InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
July 17, 2000
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Privacy Evaluation: ebay
By Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT).
EBay is the most popular online auction site. The eight-page privacy policy is fairly comprehensive and includes what sort of information is collected and how it will be used. There's even an appendix that outlines the information collected and who has access to it.
Seals
Trust-e
BBBOnline
Information Collection
| Type of Information | Collected? |
| Cookies | Session, navigation tracking, ad exposure |
| Anonymous information | Yes, mostly through cookies |
| Personal information | Yes, including name, E-mail, address, credit-card information |
| IP address | Yes |
| Referrer | Yes |
| Ad view and usage | Yes |
Information Sharing
| Information Type | Shared? |
| Name, E-mail, etc. | Used, shared with partners |
| Site usage | Used, shared with partners and advertisers |
| Demographics | Used, shared with partners and advertisers |
| Aggregate information | Shared with partners and advertisers |
Privacy Policy Features
| Feature | Implemented? |
| Notice | Yes |
| Security | Secure Sockets Layer information collection |
| Options | Fairly extensive set of preferences for mailings that you wish to be excluded from. Not all information sharing can be opted out of. Preferences page is not available unless you are a registered user. |
| Access | Ability to update via form or contact person at vendor. Can't tell if it can be deleted. |
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