UK Government Watchdog to Investigate eBay Over eBay's Data Privacy Violatons

[mandy]

Internet auction site eBay is facing an investigation over claims it is breaking data protection laws. Britain's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office, is looking into complaints that eBay is passing personal details on to third parties, as well as claims that it deliberately prevents users from removing their details from its system.

Under the 1998 Data Protection Act companies are legally required to allow people to delete such information. The accusations are being pursued by lobby group Privacy International.

The ICO last night confirmed it was examining whether eBay had breached the act. "We have received a complaint from Privacy International which we are now looking into," said a spokeswoman...

full article: http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/st...18,00.html

[mandy]

More press coverage of the inquiry into eBay's practices:

U.K. watchdog group Privacy International has sparked an inquiry into eBay's handling of personal data, as part of a new campaign against e-commerce sites that may be abusing the privacy of their users.

The civil- and cyber-rights group complained to the U.K.'s Information Commissioner this week about eBay.co.uk, which it claims is breaching the Data Protection Act by making it hard for users to cancel their accounts and delete details of their Web shopping habits and other personal data...

Privacy International said that its complaint against eBay was a test case, and could be followed by complaints against other e-retailers...

full article: http://news.com.com/eBay,+Amazon+take+he...11336.html

Privacy International (PI) alleges that the auction site is deliberately making it difficult for people to delete their accounts, with the aim of bolstering customer numbers.

Under the 1998 Data Protection Act (DPA), firms are obliged to allow people to delete their registration information.

PI head Simon Davies explained: "There are two categories of offenders in cases like this. eBay is a category two offender, which means that it does provide an opt out option, but it is not easy to find. Category one offenders... have no delete account function at all."...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/31/ebay_privacy/

[mandy]

Update:  eBay has agreed to make changes as a result of this investigation:

Internet auction house eBay will make changes to its site after discussions with the UK's Information Commissioner and civil rights group Privacy International.

ZDNet UK has learnt that eBay has agreed to make changes to its Web site to make it easier for users to close accounts and track personal e-commerce transactions, following a complaint by Privacy International. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has confirmed that changes are being made...

The complaint by Privacy International included a claim that eBay was breaching the Data Protection Act because it was extremely difficult, in its opinion, for a user to close an account...

The My eBay account management page will have a button to allow users to close their accounts, and the procedure for disclosure of personal information to groups of institutions and their representative organisations will be more clearly explained...

full article: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020...670,00.htm