E-Bay...The Monster and Your Privacy...

From the article: Big Brother Is Watching You...and Documenting
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=264863&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y&itemNo=264863

Sullivan was speaking to senior representatives of numerous law-enforcement agencies in the United States on the occasion of "Cyber Crime 2003," a conference that was held last week in Connecticut. His lecture was closed to reporters, and for good reason. Haaretz has obtained a recording of the lecture, in which Sullivan tells the audience that eBay is willing to hand over everything it knows about visitors to its Web site that might be of interest to an investigator. All they have to do is ask. "There's no need for a court order," Sullivan said, and related how the company has half a dozen investigators under contract, who scrutinize "suspicious users" and "suspicious behavior." The spirit of cooperation is a function of the patriotism that has surged in the wake of September 11.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030707&c=1&s=engle

<snip>

Brags Sullivan, "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." (eBay itself goes further than this, employing six investigators who are charged with tracking down "suspicious people" and "suspicious behavior.")

<snip>
Sullivan's statements were first reported by Yuval Dror in the Tel Aviv-based daily Ha'aretz; surprisingly, they have received no coverage in the US media. And, while they may seem extreme, Sullivan's eBay policies seem to fit into a larger pattern of eroding online privacy.

I have a thing for lighthouse figurines and xmas ornaments? Damn them!