Slashdot Mirror
eBay Provides No Privacy For Sellers
Phanatic1a writes "Quoted in an article in The Nation, eBay's chief of security Joseph Sullivan brags up eBay's "flexible" privacy policy to LEOs, telling them "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." The tens of millions of Paypal customers eBay has access to the financial records of might be curious to see what else Sullivan promises..."
Those comments were made last winter, so those of you (like me) feeling a sense of Deja Vu - there's a reason.
According to PayPal's privacy policy, your banking info and everything else is safe unless the request is backed by a warrant or court order. It is interesting to note that they do reserve the right to give some of your info to your victims if they find that you've committed a fraud.
Here's the (IMO) relevent passages from the section outlining exceptions to the rule that they don't share your info:
"We disclose information that we in good faith believe is appropriate to cooperate in investigations of fraud or other illegal activity, or to conduct investigations of violations of our User Agreement. Specifically, this means that if we conduct a fraud investigation and conclude that one side has engaged in deceptive practices, we can give that person or entity's contact information (but not bank account or credit card information) to victims who request it.
We disclose information in response to a subpoena, warrant, court order, levy, attachment, order of a court-appointed receiver or other comparable legal process, including subpoenas from private parties in a civil action. "
666-607: 6th floor apartment of the beast
On many occasions people report scam artist's auctions, often on hijacked IDs, and eBay does nothing for days. Shill bidding [bidding on your own items] is strictly forbidden, but if you present eBay with the evidence, they often don't suspend all of the accounts involved.
m l user agreement
c y. html privacy policy
h read=36 270&start=0&msRange=189
Remember a few months ago when the chat boards were comprimised because Live World who runs the boards left an admin tool open to users on the Internet? Dozens of people's account information, and snitch information was made available to hackers that just needed to modify an address in Internet Explorer.
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/community/png-user.ht
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/privacy-poli
The "six investigators" bit is a joke. eBay would be even more ripe with fraud if hundreds of users didn't make reports to the "support" staff.
Read what a joke the support is like:
http://forums.ebay.ca/thread.jsp?forum=7&t
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
The anarchists Cookbook was published by a covert government organization and was intended to cause physical harm to any who tried to execute the plans included in it.
Regardelss of whether it was a deliberate hoax or simple incompetence, the recipies in it are indeed dangerous, and likely to blow up in your face (literally) if followed.
For instance: The nitroglycerine recipe completely ignores the temperature control (i.e. ice bath) necessary to keep the heat of the reaction from setting off the product - demolishing the lab AND splashing the remains with the nitric and sulphuric acid not yet consumed by the reaction.
Don't try thiose recipes at home, kiddies.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
I only sell used cars at a profit. However, when I buy them from customers, sales tax does not apply, with certain exception. When you trade in your car, you pay tax on the difference, not the whole new car price. Thus you are taxed only on the loss itself, since the residual value is basically tax free.