[CIMC-working] PayPal privacy concerns

[Ian Bicking]

Concerns about EBay (who recently bought PayPal):



            eBay, ever anxious to up profits, bends over backward
            to provide data to law enforcement officials

By Yuval Dror

 "I don't know another Web site that has a privacy policy as flexible  
as eBay's," says Joseph Sullivan. A little bit later, Sullivan explains
what he means by the term "flexible." Sullivan is director of the "law  
enforcement and compliance" department at eBay.com, the largest retailer
in the world.

Sullivan says eBay has recorded and documented every iota of data that  
has come through the Web site since it first went online in 1995. Every 
time someone makes a bid, sells an item, writes about someone else, even
when the company cancels a sale for whatever reason - it documents all
of the pertinent information.

"We don't make you show a subpoena, except in exceptional cases,"  
Sullivan told his listeners. "When someone uses our site and clicks on
the `I Agree' button, it is as if he agrees to let us submit all of his
data to the legal authorities. Which means that if you are a
law-enforcement officer, all you have to do is send us a fax with a
request for information, and ask about the person behind the seller's
identity number, and we will provide you with his name, address, sales
history and other details - all without having to produce a court order.
We want law enforcement people to spend time on our site," he adds. He
says he receives about 200 such requests a month, most of them
unofficial requests in the form of an email or fax.

Continued:
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=264863&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y