Privacy Groups Call For Investigations Of Amazon

The dispute between the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
and Amazon [NASDAQ:AMZN], which started earlier this year when the
privacy group nixed its book distribution deal with the e-tailer, is
continuing, with EPIC now urging government agencies of the need to
investigate Amazon's operations.

This time EPIC appears to be pulling no punches, saying that
government agencies should investigate the e-tailer in both the US and
the UK, charging violations of trade practices and data protection
laws.

In a letter just sent to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), EPIC and
Junkbusters have asked the FTC to determine whether Amazon.com
deceived its US customers by changing its privacy policy to permit
disclosure of personal customer information.

Both privacy organizations allege that the changes are inconsistent
with Amazon's previous statements that it would "never" disclose
customer information to third parties and are therefore deceptive and
illegal under the US FTC Act.

The groups have asked the FTC to prohibit Amazon from disclosing
information about its customers without their prior affirmative
consent, as well as requiring Amazon to offer its customers the option
to delete all information about their identity and purchases.

On top of this,, the letter is asking the FTC to require Amazon to
tell each customer on request exactly what information it has
disclosed or exchanged about the customer with other companies
and to provide complete access to the customer profile.

EPIC says that, during negotiations with Junkbusters in recent months,
Amazon has refused these three demands.

Both EPIC and Junkbusters severed their ties with Amazon on Sept. 13
over Amazon's revised privacy policy.

Junkbusters' President Jason Catlett has also published an open letter
to Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, summarizing the deficiencies in Amazon's
position.

In parallel with the EPIC/Junkbusters letter in the US, Privacy
International, the London-based human rights organization, has issued
its own letter to the UK's Data Protection Commissioner.

The group's letter is asking the British government agency to halt
Amazon's UK affiliate from processing customer data until it complies
fully with UK data protection legislation.

In his letter, Simon Davies, Privacy International's director, has
charged that Amazon.co.uk is "in willful violation of several
requirements of the Act," including the obligation to show its UK
customers all information held about them, and to delete it on
request.

Marc Rotenberg, EPIC's executive director, said that the US and UK
have established laws to safeguard the rights of consumers. "We're
asking the FTC and the Data Protection Commissioner to ensure
that the right of privacy will be respected in the online world." he
said.

Copies of the letters and other relevant documents are available at
http://www.junkbusters.com/amazon.html.