Ebay Changes Privacy Policy

omarius writes: "Ebay is changing their privacy policy (the Ebay FAQ on the new policy is here). According to this article on CNET, this means they can share your auction history with anyone. I heard it this morning on NPR, and am considering cancelling my account."

Comments

Re:eBay can

[Anonymous Coward]

The whole "suspend customers if eBay believes their actions may cause a financial loss to the company, other customers or themselves." is a major issue that bothers me.

And your comment about suspension over criticism is a major concern. I have given good feedback ratings over auctions that went well. But now the new policy makes it sound like you could lose your account just for giving justifiable negative feedback.

Over and Over and Over again....

[CDWert]

This privacy stuff is getting to the point I want to scream "NOTHING IS PRIVATE IN THE FIRST PLACE" , Learn it live with it, your habbits , are profiled, you can do one of serveral things.

Come up with a COMPLETE , ALTER Identity, mine has even its own credit rating(this happened quite by accident). Pay 500 bucks set up a corporation and accounts, set up a false name with access to those account (This IS legal, a role account) AND since all your transactions are online (banking and such you will never need an ID, BESIDES, YOU the officer has access in person if its needed) Get a corprate PO box, and youre set, never need to use your real name again, NOW this isnt to avoid law enforcment it wont work, they can still find you, BUT it will completley render useless almost all personal data collected on you for marketing purposes.

Second is completley screw with the profiling efforts, the left and right 5% are typically dismissed in marketing efforts, fall into that and they wont bother you.

Third, dont care, dont give a crap, and let em send you all the targeted marketing they want, know your information is a commodity to be sold and have fun with that, adding things like wrong phone numbers, and bizzare information whenever possible which ties into number 2.

OR the LAST reccomendation, you will go NUTS, Worry about all of this, make every effort to OPT out, calling all your creditors, and online subscription companies to find out what their OPT out policy is (they have to have one) and try to OPT OUT of all data sharing, only to find you forgot one place and your data is still EVERYWHERE !

Some cheaper suggestions

[ShaunC]

You give some good ideas. Here are some slightly cheaper ones, for the rest of us... Those of us who'd rather spend the $500 on beer than incorporation ;)

1. Change your phone number, today, right now. Call the phone company and request an unlisted and unpublished number. (There's a difference between unlisted and unpublished, and unless you request both, you may very well get fucked.) BellSouth charges $3/month to maintain an unlisted/unpublished number, YMMV.

2. Rent either a P.O. Box or a PMB (private mailbox at an authorized mail agent, like Mailboxes Etc.). Use this address for everything you can get away with. Hint: the only things you can't get away with are a) the utility bill, b) the phone bill, and c) the cable bill, if applicable. Yes, even your bank and the IRS will send stuff to a private mailbox!

3. If you're really freaking paranoid, move, then repeat steps 1 and 2.

4. Get caller ID. Do NOT, under ANY circumstances, answer the telephone unless you know who's calling. Do NOT, under ANY circumstances, hook up an answering machine to your phone line. Period. People you know or care about should get your cell/pager number, not your home number. Once a single telemarketing firm verifies your home number as both active and "live" (i.e. something answers) you can kiss your privacy goodbye. It's better to let it ring than to answer it.

5. Never answer the door unless you're expecting company. Even manual marketers share information. If you really stick to this principle, you may not even have to participate in the census! The poor census volunteer for my area actually had to stake me out to catch me leaving my place in order to get me to reply to the basic census questions. No, I'm not kidding.

6. Give legitimate but bogus information to anyone who requires personal info. That is, the information should check out, but it shouldn't be something that can be used to annoy you or track you down. Someone wants your address? Give them your P.O. Box or PMB. Someone wants your phone number? Give them the local dating line, or the number of your previous employer. The key is to pick information that matches your locale, and perhaps even your identity, but can't be hooked to your physical location. Hint: when subscribing for things online, all that really needs to match is the ZIP code. Pick any valid address in your ZIP code and the purchase will typically be approved.

I've been at my current place for 2 1/2 years. I get maybe 1 or 2 unidentifiable calls per week (either wrong number or out of area type calls). Someone might knock on my door once a month. And as best as I can remember, I haven't gotten a single piece of postal mail addressed to me personally that wasn't a bill. That's right, not a single piece of postal spam since I moved here. Why? Because I'm careful. The only people who know my landline phone number and postal address are the same people I trust with my life. Not fucking many.

Guard your privacy as if it were your most valuable asset. It might take some effort on the front end, but once you get used to the routines (not answering the phone, not answering the door, etc) you'll save yourself from the satanic world of marketing.

Shaun