From: Adam L. Beberg (beberg@mithral.com)
Date: Sat Sep 02 2000 - 12:54:48 PDT
OK, I've only seen this on CNN, the Amazon email they are sending out
doesn't point out what changed but CNN did. Must be something in the
Seattle water, maybe it's a hellmouth or something...
And I cant find out how to get Amazon to nuke all my data, cause they
just lost any and all business, not that I use them anymore anyway
becasue I goto a bookstore to BROWSE.
- Adam L. Beberg
-------------
Amazon may share data
Retailing giant rethinks privacy policy, may sell client info
September 1, 2000: 6:45 a.m. ET
SEATTLE (AP) - Internet retailing giant Amazon.com is notifying
customers that their personal information could be shared with other
companies.
Seattle-based Amazon.com (AMZN: Research, Estimates), which sells
products ranging from books to toys to hardware on its site, has posted
a revised privacy policy telling customers the information they give is
considered a saleable asset.
"As we continue to develop our business,
we might sell or buy stores or assets. In such transactions, customer
information generally is one of the transferred business assets," the
policy flagged at the bottom of the site's main page said Thursday.
The company also said that "in the
unlikely event that Amazon.com Inc., or substantially all of its assets
are acquired, customer information will of course be one of the
transferred assets."
Amazon.com is not currently selling or
sharing customer information with other companies, the notice said.
The issue of Internet companies selling
customers' personal information has been contentious recently.
Concerns were brought to the forefront this year when Internet
advertising broker DoubleClick was criticized for a plan to market a
record of Web pages consumers have visited, and after online retailer
Toysmart.com proposed selling its closely held customer list after
filing for bankruptcy protection.
DoubleClick (DCLK: Research, Estimates) has joined IBM, AT&T and other
large companies and trade groups in the Privacy Leadership Initiative.
The organization is developing a multimillion dollar advertising and
education campaign.
The industry's hope is that more consumers can warm to the idea of
trading their personal information, which is among the most valuable
assets of any dot-com business, for services.
Amazon also advised customers that it shares information with its
online partners, such as drugstore.com. The company did not specify the
type of information shared with such partners.
An Amazon.com spokeswoman did not immediately return a call made late
Thursday.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Sep 02 2000 - 12:59:45 PDT