A multimillion-dollar privacy lawsuit on behalf of customers of Comcast's broadband Internet service has been filed in a federal court, according to the plaintiff's attorney.

The litigation seeks compensation for the approximately one million Comcast Internet customers nationwide whose Web surfing habits were tracked by the Internet service provider earlier this year, according to Steven E. Goren, a partner with Goren & Goren, the Michigan law firm handling the case.

In February, Comcast admitted that for a period of six weeks it had been recording information such as the IP (Internet protocol) address of customers' computers as well as Web pages they visited. The company said it discontinued the practice following news reports and customer complaints.

The lawsuit alleges that Comcast violated the Cable TV Privacy Act of 1984, and asks the court to award $100 per day for each day of violation or up to $1,000 for all affected Comcast customers, as provided under the statute, according to Goren.

A spokesperson for Comcast said the lawsuit was without merit and that the big cable company would defend itself vigorously.

"We have not in any way compromised their privacy or linked Internet usage data to personally identifying information," said the spokesperson, who added that Comcast has never shared personal information about where its subscribers go on the Internet.

Full Article: Newsbytes