keep track of and monitor an individual user’s
web activity over every website on which these
companies inject ads.2
These third-party cookies are used by
advertising companies to help create detailed
profiles on individuals . . . by recording every
communication request by that browser to sites
that are participating in the ad network,
including all search terms the user has entered.
The information is sent to the companies and
associated with unique cookies—that is how the
tracking takes place. The cookie lets the tracker
associate the web activity with a unique person
using a unique browser on a device. Once the
third-party cookie is placed in the browser, the
next time the user goes to a website 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 . . . .3
B.
Discovery
Cookie Blocking, Circumvention, Deceit, and
Individually tailored webpage advertisements are now
ubiquitous. But, where cookie-based tracking is concerned,
leading web browsers have designed built-in features to
prevent the installation of cookies by third-party servers. The
2
Compl. ¶ 45.
3
Compl. ¶ 46.
7