browser, the next time the user goes to a
webpage with the same [d]efendant’s
advertisements, a copy of that request can be
associated with the unique third-party cookie
previously placed. Thus the tracker can track
the behavior of the user[.]”59
If the information at issue is sent to the defendants in the
ordinary course, then this description of the cookies makes
sense. This is because in such a scenario the defendants need
only associate information to track it, which can be
successfully accomplished by affixing an identifier to that
information. This is precisely how the complaint describes the
defendants’ cookies’ function. With respect to Google, the
complaint pleads installation of Google’s “id” cookie, “which
is a unique and consistent identifier given to each user by
Google for its use in tracking persons across the entire
spectrum of websites on which Google places . . . cookies.”60
Google allegedly uses this cookie to “identif[y] users,” such
that “the placement of the third-party cookies, placed by
circumventing Plaintiffs’ and Class Members’ privacy
settings, allows this identification to take place.”61 Likewise,
as to two of the other defendants, the complaint says that
“[t]he spokesman [for Vibrant] admitted Vibrant used the
59
Compl. ¶ 46.
60
Compl. ¶ 95.
61
Compl. ¶ 96.
31