Toys 'R' Us Suit Reveals Pitfalls Of Privacy Policies.(A)(Internet & Technology)

Byline: Donna Howell

]DROPLEAD2]'I recognize there are no easy solutions. I'm just coming here with more problems," explained a busy Matt Curtin.

Caught up in a controversy he helped spark, the software programmer turns to watch his story on TV news.

The Pandora's box of online privacy has sprung open again.

The nation's biggest toy store chain is being sued over the issue. A watchdog is probing Web site privacy policies. Barbs are flying as dot-coms scramble to toe

the line.

The fracas started last week with a controversial report from Interhack Corp. It's an Internet security consulting firm in Columbus, Ohio, founded by Curtin,a teacher at Ohio State University.

In the report, Curtin and two co-authors detail how Coremetrics Inc., a marketing research firm, gets private data about online shoppers. You could have provided those data unknowingly while buying toys, baby supplies or sportswear at four Web sites, Curtin says. The report explained the worst-case scenario.

An e-mail the group received from a fellow techie spurred Interhack's research.

Suit Filed

By midweek, lawyers in San Diego had …