Can eSizing Clothes, Bare Personal Info?

jwater asks: "As we become more entrenched into a digital economy, do companies like eZsize and TheRightSize, who are discussed in this article from Wired News, seem to make sense? Would you use these ideas to buy a 'fitting' gift for your wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend this Christmas season? Customization seems like the next big wave for e-business, but are you willing to sacrifice the personal information to make such concepts take off?" A certain degree of personal information is necessary for the production of customized commercial items, but how should those commercial entities treat and protect your data, and what penalties should they risk if they fail?

Comments

Big Brother is watching

[MasterOfDisaster]

Anything that allows anyone to know any more about me then they allready do, is bad, very bad.
think targeted "want to lose xLB in 2 days?" emails.
But then again, I'm just a parainoied freak, dont pay me any mind.

It could be abused...

[Jordan Block]

...but, the real question is, do I really care if some website knows what size my pants are? Hell, I trust them with my credit card info, why not my pants?

Re:It could be abused...

[Mr. Flibble]

With a credit card it is difficult to find out too much about you... Or it should be.

Although this is turning into a slippery slope argument, I must wonder how far this can go?

Think about it, Website A has your pants size. Website B has your real name and address. Website C has a large log of the things you like to buy from their online shopping. Website D has a collection of what type of p0rn you like to surf for....

Websites A,B,C and D sell their information to some "spamhaus" that creates a database that is able to correlate all the information from the sites back to you. Now mass marketers have access to information in a singular database that you are not aware of.

If this happens, where does your privacy go??
Any malicious individual (or just a plain "marketer") now has access to a collection of things that you thought were private details.

Its not the pants alone that is the issue, its the possiblity that your pants data can be correlated with your surfing habits etc...

Re:It could be abused...

[198348726583297634]

or, think about it. every time you make a credit card purchase of some pants, the store has the size of the pants filed away with your credit card number. they can use the number to get your personal information if they want, and can then sell your pant size to marketers.

then what happens?

THEY SEND YOU ADVERTISING PRE-FORMATTED WITH YOUR PANT SIZE!

so what?

Re:It could be abused...

[stereoroid]

Why not? Well, wouldn't your life or health insurance companies like to know your pants size? A large pants size indicates you are overweight, meaning that you are at a higher risk of heart attacks and diabetes, and so they can charge you higher premiums (like they need an excuse)!

Re:It could be abused...

[Mr. Flibble]

I have used this argument before on Slashdot, but here it goes again.

The issue as I mentioned previously is not your pants size alone. Its a correlation of all the data. By itself, the pants data is probably harmless.

The question then becomes do you want people to know a ton of your private personal details?

Your answer to this is probably: "I don't care, I have nothing to hide."

Really?

What is your pants size?
What is your home mailing address?
What are your phone numbers?
How old are you?
What sex are you?
How often do you brush your teeth?
How often do you have sex?
How many people have you had sex with??
Have you ever had homosexual sex?
Have you ever fantisized about it?
What is your favorite type of porn, and how often do you masturbate to it?
What are the names and addresses of your previous/current sexual partners so that we can contact them and get their opinion on your sexual prowess?

Now, my suggestions are getting outrageous right?
But you must see my point that there are some things that *YOU* don't want the world at large to know. If you fill out enough of these little tidbits in enough little areas it is possible that this information could end up in a centralized database with some pretty interesting statistics on you.

Just imagine what would happen if an estranged individual got ahold of THAT information.

We seem to be forgetting...

[TheTomcat]

Heaven forbid someone should find out what size pants someone wears. Ok, sure the gnomes might find such information useful, but generally speaking, who cares? I don't.

We seem to be forgetting that every time you buy pants, the cashier has FULL ACCESS to your personal inseam information! Or how about the tailor? Do people still get custom clothes made? I should think so. The tailor not only gets your inseam measurement, but also *gasp* your WAIST SIZE!

We also seem to be forgetting that on certain brands of jeans, the size is printed on the OUTSIDE of the pants, where ANYONE can see it.

Yes I'm being sarcastic, but is it really worth complaining that some small e-tailer MIGHT be collecting 'personal' information like neck measurements?

you need advanced face-obscuration technology...

[alienmole]

...they're called "sunglasses".

I just realized...

[gravity]

if I walk on the street, other people
can see my face.

Dear slashdot, what can I do to
stop them invading my privacy.

z.

why/how is the useful?

[bluGill]

Jeans are jeans, I can buy them at wal-mart just as good as you, and they look and function the same no matter where they come from. So why would the matter. For t-shirts anyone who knows me can guess correctly what size will fit me, likewise sweaters.

I don't want someone else buying my underware, and all the girls I know feel the same way. That is private, only husbands/wives can consider buying that, and they can just come home early and read the labels in my drawer if they don't know. Everyone else has no buisness caring what my underware looks like.

For suits, the only way to buy one is to have a professional taylor make one to fit just me (If you can arrange a buisness trip to Thiland this is affordable too!). So please don't buy me this either. Nooses are a different story, if you must buy me a tie, you will discover that size isn't a factor.

Then again I've always belived that clothing should cover the relavent body parts, provide warmth, and not be uncomfortable. I've reluctantly agreed not to wear my oil and paint stained shirt with the holes in to work, but I don't see why it matters. I sometimes put my shirts on inside out, and it doesn't bother me at all.

Re:you need advanced face-obscuration technology..

[Bryan Andersen]

Personally I thought an "advanced face-obscuration technology" was makeup. A low tech one is a ski mask.

Sounds like a great opportunity for haxors

[Hairy_Potter]

Once Vicki's start's doing this (Victoria's Secret, for those unaware), crack into their esize database and grep on 36-24-36 and mall franchise.

You could find all the perfectly proportioned women that are in your area! Woo-hoo!

Of course, if you're a breast man, you could jsut grep on 38, or 40, etc.

Vested interest

[GeorgeH]

Personally, I hope that my e-tailer gets hacked and everyone finds out I buy XXL condoms.
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