In a ruling that marks a victory for privacy proponents, a federal appeals panel is allowing a group of Web surfers to sue a company that gathered certain data about them without their consent. . .

In a ruling that marks a victory for privacy proponents, a federal appeals panel is allowing a group of Web surfers to sue a company that gathered certain data about them without their consent.

The decision, handed down Friday by the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, clears the way for some pharmaceutical Web site users to pursue a class-action case against the operators of Boston-based Pharmatrak. The lawsuit alleges that the now-defunct Web traffic analysis company violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) by intercepting communications without permission.

The ruling is significant, because the appeals panel attempted to address some muddy legal issues related to online data collection. These questions include what, in the online world, constitutes protected "content" for the purposes of intercepting communications--a technique commonly used by law enforcement agencies.

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