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Amazon Accused of Privacy Violation

Posted by michael on from the privacy-r-us dept.

tsu doh nimh writes "A clutch of privacy groups are accusing Amazon of violating federal kids's privacy rules, according to this Washingtonpost.com story."

9 comments

  1. That's fine but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...what about the privacy rights of NON-federal kids?

  2. That's just wrong by L.+VeGas · · Score: 1

    accusing Amazon of violating federal kids

    Oh, I thought it said feral kids.

    Wait you shouldn't do that either.

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  3. er, grammar? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what's with the grammar? what the fuck does "kids's" mean?

  4. From the toysrus.com site by ptaff · · Score: 1
    Stated from the toysRus.com site, conditions of use:

    If you are under 18, you may use Amazon.com only with involvement of a parent


    So, what does "use" mean in that context?

    Amazon say they allow specific under-age-13 anonymous reviews. So I guess it's always the parent's fault, or the kids' fault, never Amazon's.

    After all, parents should always be around, I wonder if letting a child use a computer without supervision is a crime. Seems to be.

    So long, script kiddies!

    Darn law-traps.

  5. EPIC has a good track record by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    But they're a bit light on the details with this one.

    Do they have specific problem cases they're citing? As I understand Amazon, it's a place where you go to buy stuff with a credit card. Unless there are some nutty parents out there, we don't need to worry about this happening with young children.

    Then epic goes on to say how Amazon is using kiddie fonts to lure in children. I must be incredibly naive, I thought it was there to soften up the feel of the website, make it feel a touch more like a toy store, and more importantly to soften up parents' wallets.

    So the problem, basically, is that a kid could use his parents' computer without permission to create an account and then post a review on a product? Are they going after the spirit or the letter of the law here?

    If I were a 13 year old kid, I'd be more concerned with filling up my wishlist for Christmas than posting reviews anyhow.

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    1. Re:EPIC has a good track record by Silent_E · · Score: 1

      There's been a bunch of cases in which companies have collected and maintained databases of children's personal information (lego, mrs. field's, and hershey's most recently). Aside from the "marketing to children concerns" (children are supposedly more impressionable and less able to distinguish between reality and fantasy), these sites are potentially dangerous because they lable kids as such and depending on what personal info is on the site, it makes it possible to find kids in the real world using their on-line info. I'd be surprised whether anyone cared if they were posting reviews. If they were writing reviews, at least they'd be practicing how to write! :)

    2. Re:EPIC has a good track record by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      I agree with everything you said, but the only reason to make an account at Amazon is to buy stuff or to post reviews, right?

      So, they tell kids not to make accounts, kids make accounts, and EPIC gets all over them because they could theorteically share that data with Hershey's?

      I'm just not following...

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      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  6. In other news ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... Jeff Bezos patents one-click child molestation.

  7. Obfuscated grammar by henben · · Score: 1
    federal kids's privacy rules

    Editors, editors. How is it possible that you can write Perl but you can't get this right?

    Just apply the regexp \s///'/\ ... no, hold on ... oh, never mind.