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Amazon Search Bar Will Track Your Browsing

Posted by timothy on from the was-only-testing-that-last-site-you-see dept.

Limit writes "There has been a lot of discussion regarding GMail and Google's privacy policies. However, with the recent debut of Amazon's A9.com, I havn't seen any mention to the information they intend to collect. I saw this article today, "The history server stores -- on our servers -- your history of interaction with us for the purpose of bringing that back to you in a very convenient way ... If you install the toolbar, then all your Web browsing, as well as all your searching, is stored as well." Where is all the media hype about this privacy issue?"

3 of 236 comments (clear)

  1. Um, just use the 'generic' one... by Space+cowboy · · Score: 5, Informative
    From their privacy policy on all the signup pages:

    Automatic Information: We receive and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, like many Web sites, we use cookies, and we obtain certain types of information when your Web browser accesses A9.com. Click here to see examples of the information we receive. If you would prefer not to be recognized on our site, we recommend that you use our alternate service located at generic.A9.com. On generic.A9.com, we will not recognize your A9.com or Amazon.com cookie. Information we gather on generic.A9.com will not be used in our data analysis (other than to detect abuse) and will not be used to personalize the services we offer you.


    Anyone who signs up for a "free" service without reading the small print deserves what they get, just like with any other 'unbelievably-good' offer...

    Simon.
    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
  2. Want privacy? by GoofyBoy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't use it.

    Want to use it?

    The full quote:
    "The history server stores -- on our servers -- your history of interaction with us for the purpose of bringing that back to you in a very convenient way. Whenever you come to the site, we can show you what you searched for in the past in a very easy-to-organize fashion. If you want to hide some of that, you can opt out at any time. If you install the toolbar, then all your Web browsing, as well as all your searching, is stored as well. And we are working on many different ways to improve that."

    You can opt-out.

    Still demand your Constiutional Right to this private service?

    From: http://www.a9.com/-/company/privacypolicy.jsp
    "Wh at Choices and Access Do I Have?
    If you would prefer not to be recognized on our site, we recommend that you use our alternate service located at generic.A9.com. On generic.A9.com, we will not recognize your A9.com or Amazon.com cookie. Information we gather on generic.A9.com will not be used in our data analysis (other than to detect abuse) and will not be used to personalize the services we offer you."

    Still not enough for you?

    May I suggest: http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html

    --
    The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
  3. Re:I don't trust any so-called "browser helpers". by next1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    exactly: when you can just run firefox and have a google toolbar built-in but without any of the privacy concerns mentioned in this article, + block pop-ups + install any of many other plugins available.