Mobile advertising solutions provider Ringleader Digital is the target of a new lawsuit alleging the firm violated consumer privacy with its RLD Media Stamp targeting technology, which the Ringleader website describes as "the mobile equivalent of an online 'cookie.'" The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the United States District Court, Central District of California, claims Ringleader and partners including CNN, Travel Channel and AccuWeather intentionally exploited mobile software capabilities "for the purpose of tracking plaintiffs' Internet activities." According to the suit, Ringleader "unknowingly accessed and created databases on plaintiffs' mobile devices as well as placed information on plaintiffs' mobile devices without [their] knowledge or consent," "assigned plaintiffs' mobile devices unique identification numbers for the purpose of tracking these devices" and "stored information they acquired about plaintiffs' phone and mobile browsing activities on Ringleader Digital's databases."

The lawsuit goes on to state "If plaintiffs cleaned their cookies folder and deleted their browser history, this would have no effect on defendants' ability to continue to track plaintiffs because the information necessary to track plaintiffs, the unique ID, is stored in the HTML5 databases... Even if plaintiffs were to take the traditional step to block advertisers and websites from tracking their movements, Ringleader Digital's Media Stamp, as licensed and used by the other defendants, thwarted those efforts."
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