# Why do you value your e-privacy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 16, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-value-your-e-privacy/54775 "2001-02-16T18:05:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-value-your-e-privacy/54775/1 "2001-02-16T18:05:12Z")
From the [Napster Alternatives](http://www.vbulletin.com) thread: > [@](#): > > Originally posted by Derleth: > > **Attaryant, did you know that [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) admits to selling lists of those who buy from them? My privacy is worth more than a CD. Ya want proof? I got your proof right [here](http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cti523.htm) (USA Today).** Amazon’s [Privacy policy](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/468496/104-3230578-9040767): > [@](#): > > The information we learn from customers helps us personalize and continually improve your shopping experience at [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com). Here are the types of information we gather: > > •Information You Give Us > •Automatic Information (cookies) > •E-mail Communications (return receipts) > •Information from Other Sources (not specified) _(Parenthetical comments are mine)_ More: > [@](#): > > Does [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) Share the Information It Receives? > > Information about our customers is an important part of our business, and **we are not in the business of selling it to others**. We share customer information only with the subsidiaries [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com), Inc., controls and as described below. I don’t immediately see anything objectionable in the “below” part. > [@](#): > > Originally posted by Derleth from the same thread: > > Also, I do not fully trust their security mechanisms. If someone can remotely access credit card data, anyone with enough time can figure out how to do the same. From Amazon’s [Safe Shopping Guarantee](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/468494/ref=hp_hp_ct_1_7/104-3230578-9040767): > [@](#): > > The [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) Safe Shopping Guarantee protects you while you shop at [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com), so that you never have to worry about credit card safety. Period. > > We guarantee that every transaction you make at [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) will be safe. This means **you pay nothing if unauthorized charges are made to your card** as a result of shopping at [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com). Not to mention the built-in safety factor that already comes with using a credit card anywhere, not just on line. And I _always_ give my telephone number out in the order process (in case something goes wrong and they need to reach me), and I’ve never had a problem with telephone solicitations. So, what are we afraid of? I have been an Amazon customer for almost as long as they have been operating. I don’t get spammed by them or any of their affiliated business, and I think it would be business-suicide for any company that starts doing that to their customers. Only once did I receive a solicitation from [Drugstore.com](http://Drugstore.com) (an Amazon subsidiary) for a special on Pepcid®. Somehow they knew that I take that & they sent me a dynamite offer on the stuff for which I was grateful. When I think of the word _privacy_ I imagine people peeking through my widows or listening to my telephone conversations. Any transactions I make with a business are private **between me and said busness**. I know that people are going to say that said business violates that privacy when they sell or give my information to other businesses, but I really don’t have a huge problem with this. If I were to buy a battery charger at [gadgets.com](http://gadgets.com), I wouldn’t really care if they shared that info with their subsiduary ([batteries.com](http://batteries.com)) so that I could get a good deal on something to put in my charger. Who here has ever declined to give their phone number to Radio Shack when making a purchase in one of their stores? Did you think that they are going to call you up in the middle of the night to see if you wanted to buy a ham radio kit? As much as I’ve shopped there over the past 20 years I’ve **never** received a call from them. Okay I’m waiting… alarm me. ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2001, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-you-value-your-e-privacy/54775/2 "2001-02-18T02:24:51Z")
> [@](#): > > When I think of the word privacy I imagine people peeking through my widows or listening to my telephone conversations. Any transactions I make with a business are private between me and said busness. I know that people are going to say that said business violates that privacy when they sell or give my information to other businesses, but I really don’t have a huge problem with this. Well, I do. The piecemeal gathering of personally identifiable data quickly becomes enough to build a profile of an individual. The consequences of this might not be as blatant as phone calls from Radio Shack in the middle of the night, but I am extremely uncomfortable giving any entity valuable information about me. Are you familiar with the scandal of Amazon experimenting with charging different customers [different prices](http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO49569,00.html)? This is the sort of thing that I don’t want to happen. Or how about [this article](http://www.msnbc.com/news/530646.asp?cp1=1) about how marketing databases have enough information to accurately cross correlate with census data. Basically, I place great value in not being manipulated. The more information that someone else has about me, the more they can tailor their appearance to me so as to only show me what is likely to appeal. I don’t want the government knowing what I’m up to, and I don’t want Amazon knowing the maximum I’ll pay. If you don’t value your privacy, why do you have your [ICQ indicator](http://wwp.icq.com/324020) disabled?