Spitzer lawsuit changes the way the private information biz does its biz

New York's caped crusader Eliot Spitzer has put on notice all those involved in dealing in private information. Wired Magazine reports that email giant Datran Media has agreed to a $1m+ fine for knowingly buying lists from companies with privacy policies that promised not to sell them.

The case, which Spitzer described as the biggest violation of a privacy policy yet, promises to change the way the industry does business, said Chris Hoofnagle, an attorney with the Electronic Privacy Information Center who regularly publicized sales of lists that were supposedly protected by privacy policies.