EPIC and Junkbusters called for the FTC to investigate alleged violations of federal law when it changed its privacy policy last September to allow it to share customer data with third party companies unless a customer specifically requested otherwise. The groups said this conflicts with Amazon.com’s representations in its previous privacy policy which said it did not share personal data, but gave consumers the choice of opting out of any future data sharing. The FTC found that there was no such conflict.
Amazon.com’s previous policy stated:
“Amazon.com does not sell, trade or rent your personal information to others. We may choose to do so in the future with trustworthy third parties, but you can tell us not to by sending a blank e-mail message to [email protected].”
EPIC and Junkbusters were concerned that that Amazon.com may now disclose personal information about consumers who previously sent such an e-mail. According to the FTC’s letter:
“Amazon has assured us that, despite the ambiguity of its revised policy on this issue, it will not disclose to third parties any personal information concerning consumers who previously selected ‘never’. Moreover, Amazon has informed the FTC that it has never sold, traded, or rented the personal information of any of its customers, even those customers who did not e-mail [email protected], and it will not do so without notice to its customers and an opportunity for them to choose not to have their information shared.”
The FTC’s letter is available on EPIC’s web site, at http://www.epic.org/privacy/amazon/ftc_letter.html.