## **Forbes** Settles Privacy Lawsuit Over User Tracking **Forbes Media** has reached a preliminary agreement to pay $10 million and overhaul its business practices to settle a class-action lawsuit. The plaintiffs in the case alleged that **Forbes'** website tracked users across the internet without obtaining proper consent, violating California privacy laws. ### Settlement Details The preliminary settlement agreement, released on Thursday, outlines that **Forbes** will provide users with “greater notice” regarding its use of trackers. Furthermore, the company will implement website changes to give California residents more control over their data collection and sharing preferences. A key component of the settlement involves amending website language to clearly communicate data collection practices, particularly for users residing in California. ### Allegations of Privacy Violations The plaintiffs asserted that **Forbes** violated California’s invasion of Privacy Act and Unfair Competition Law. The lawsuit specifically targeted the use of pen registers and trap and trace devices to gather unique IP addresses and other identifiers from website visitors. According to the plaintiffs, the trackers deployed on the **Forbes** website were developed by **LinkedIn** and **Microsoft**. These trackers allegedly collected and transmitted users’ unique identifiers to these companies and other third parties. This data was then purportedly fed into “large databases to compile and use information about specific users’ browsing and shopping habits across the internet,” as stated in the preliminary settlement agreement. ### Compensation for Class Members Under the terms of the agreement, individual class members are estimated to receive between $32 and $189. The final amount will depend on the total number of eligible claimants. As of now, **Forbes Media** has not issued an official statement regarding the settlement.