Saw this on Ars this morning, and I'm having quite the chuckle at the various news outlets trying to explain the whole "your e-Wang purchases are now Google indexed" thing without, y'know, directly referencing said e-Wangs.
PeregrineFalcon on
Looking for a DX:HR OnLive code for my kid brother.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
I'm kind of shocked slashdot isn't picking this up yet. Uh... kinda slow for an internet news source when msnbc beats you to the punch.
C'mon, it's slashdot. Stories languish in the queue for a week until they're ripe, and then they are front-page approved without proofreading or fact-checking.
Well the weird news is, it appears etsy is being stripped from search engines... at least from google anyways. I'm having a hard time finding anything relevant about buyers through google anymore.
bowen on
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
yeah, given that the thrust of most of these articles has been "look how high your dildo preference gets on google," I wouldn't be surprised if they just disabled indexing
not that it solves the problem, but still.
ed: and yeah, I'm pretty sure google won't load cached versions of sites if indexing is disabled
Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
it was the smallest on the list but
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
Sooo, anyone else get a PM from some legal organization related to their posts in this thread?
* This message is from a law firm and may be construed as attorney advertising.
Dear user,
I am a law clerk with Edelson McGuire and I came across your post about Etsy's policy changes resulting in disclosure of its customers purchase histories. Our firm has litigated a number of privacy-related lawsuits.
We have been investigating concerns that have been raised about Etsy by other consumers in this regard. I'm very interested in asking you a couple follow-up questions about your concerns.
Do you feel that Etsy adequately responded to its customers complaints? One issue we have received complaints about is that all of Etsy's purchase history information was released to search engines, and may still be floating around on the Internet.
Thanks so much in advance.
Sincerely,
Chandler Givens
--
Chandler R. Givens (Law Clerk) | Edelson McGuire, LLC
350 N. LaSalle St., Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60654
1.540.998.1654 (direct) | 1.312.589.6370 (firm) | 1.312.589.6378 (fax) cgivens@edelson.com | www.edelson.com
* This message is from a law firm and may be construed as attorney advertising.
I think I should lobby my MP to make sure the Data Protection Act effectively covers this.
I was reading up on this.
Businesses in the US do not appear to have any data protection obligations with respect to information about non-citizens. There is a "safe harbour" agreement that states that if an organisation in the UK wants to transfer data to an organisation in another jurisdiction, that jurisdiction must have data protection laws in place at least as stringent as those in the EU.
Since with Etsy you are providing information to them directly, they don't appear to be required to take any particular steps to safeguard that information, and the only way to seek restitution appears to be to take private legal action.
It's pretty fucked up.
:?
I think in light of Etsy and other companies' attempts to make publicising information the default option rather than something you can elect to do, I'd personally like the DPA to be amended to ensure that such a silly goose measure is prohibited, that information is considered private unless absolutely necessary for the transaction to work - like sending a postal address for an auction you win on eBay - or the individual elects to display it. Dunno if that would help Americans, but with growing awareness of the consequences of our "digital footprint", it's something I think we should now be vigilant about.
Data protection laws in the UK are already pretty stringent and well-enforced. The problem is that there isn't really a way for the UK government to put in to place measures to protect information that is outside their jurisdiction. Etsy has no UK presence, so there is no enforcement mechanism even if the UK DPA was deemed to apply to it.
... and tells us that if we failed to opt-in to his promotional mailing list, then we won't be notified of massive policy changes. Way to go, Rob. If at first they didn't buy that beach-front house in Idaho, offer 'em two for the price of one.
That was actually a decent message by Rob. Even if they managed to sidestep the huge problem that was opting in people by default, they seemed to have largely listened to users.
They aren't listening to the users, they are doing this to avoid as much PR damage as possible while still remaining a "social network" for investment reasons. This is still an enormous and, quite frankly, poorly executed cover up.
Improvolone on
Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
I don't think he understands or is using the CAN-SPAM act correctly.
Emailing customers about a site account change is.. legit, if you opt in to email marketing campaigns or not. CAN-SPAM allows for emails if you have a prior business relationship as long as they are related to said business relationship (I can't troll my mailing list to tell you about a new product I'd like to sell you, but I CAN use it to tell you that, say, my credit card database was compromised)
So, you know, either he's lying about why you need to opt in to his marketing mailing list, or he's completely confused about what CAN-SPAM is about.
Sooo, anyone else get a PM from some legal organization related to their posts in this thread?
* This message is from a law firm and may be construed as attorney advertising.
Dear user,
I am a law clerk with Edelson McGuire and I came across your post about Etsy's policy changes resulting in disclosure of its customers purchase histories. Our firm has litigated a number of privacy-related lawsuits.
We have been investigating concerns that have been raised about Etsy by other consumers in this regard. I'm very interested in asking you a couple follow-up questions about your concerns.
Do you feel that Etsy adequately responded to its customers complaints? One issue we have received complaints about is that all of Etsy's purchase history information was released to search engines, and may still be floating around on the Internet.
Thanks so much in advance.
Sincerely,
Chandler Givens
--
Chandler R. Givens (Law Clerk) | Edelson McGuire, LLC
350 N. LaSalle St., Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60654
1.540.998.1654 (direct) | 1.312.589.6370 (firm) | 1.312.589.6378 (fax) cgivens@edelson.com | www.edelson.com
* This message is from a law firm and may be construed as attorney advertising.
That was weird.
that lawyer is arguably in violation of a few rules of lawyer professional conduct for contacting individuals like this.
sometimes i think i'd like to be a lawyer who goes after corrupt/rulebreaker lawyers.
Sooo, anyone else get a PM from some legal organization related to their posts in this thread?
* This message is from a law firm and may be construed as attorney advertising.
Dear user,
I am a law clerk with Edelson McGuire and I came across your post about Etsy's policy changes resulting in disclosure of its customers purchase histories. Our firm has litigated a number of privacy-related lawsuits.
We have been investigating concerns that have been raised about Etsy by other consumers in this regard. I'm very interested in asking you a couple follow-up questions about your concerns.
Do you feel that Etsy adequately responded to its customers complaints? One issue we have received complaints about is that all of Etsy's purchase history information was released to search engines, and may still be floating around on the Internet.
Thanks so much in advance.
Sincerely,
Chandler Givens
--
Chandler R. Givens (Law Clerk) | Edelson McGuire, LLC
350 N. LaSalle St., Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60654
1.540.998.1654 (direct) | 1.312.589.6370 (firm) | 1.312.589.6378 (fax) cgivens@edelson.com | www.edelson.com
* This message is from a law firm and may be construed as attorney advertising.
That was weird.
that lawyer is arguably in violation of a few rules of lawyer professional conduct for contacting individuals like this.
sometimes i think i'd like to be a lawyer who goes after corrupt/rulebreaker lawyers.
[insert picture of Dexter, only somehow edited so he looks like a lawyer]
I started a new thread about this, but Etsy sellers have tanked the rating of my personal site on Web of Trust and who knows how many other services. So now my resume has a malware popup on it.
The negative ratings correspond with pro-Etsy comments on the blog post describing the privacy violation.
I started a new thread about this, but Etsy sellers have tanked the rating of my personal site on Web of Trust and who knows how many other services. So now my resume has a malware popup on it.
The negative ratings correspond with pro-Etsy comments on the blog post describing the privacy violation.
Posts
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
C'mon, it's slashdot. Stories languish in the queue for a week until they're ripe, and then they are front-page approved without proofreading or fact-checking.
not that it solves the problem, but still.
ed: and yeah, I'm pretty sure google won't load cached versions of sites if indexing is disabled
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
That was weird.
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
Data protection laws in the UK are already pretty stringent and well-enforced. The problem is that there isn't really a way for the UK government to put in to place measures to protect information that is outside their jurisdiction. Etsy has no UK presence, so there is no enforcement mechanism even if the UK DPA was deemed to apply to it.
Haha.
... and tells us that if we failed to opt-in to his promotional mailing list, then we won't be notified of massive policy changes. Way to go, Rob. If at first they didn't buy that beach-front house in Idaho, offer 'em two for the price of one.
Emailing customers about a site account change is.. legit, if you opt in to email marketing campaigns or not. CAN-SPAM allows for emails if you have a prior business relationship as long as they are related to said business relationship (I can't troll my mailing list to tell you about a new product I'd like to sell you, but I CAN use it to tell you that, say, my credit card database was compromised)
So, you know, either he's lying about why you need to opt in to his marketing mailing list, or he's completely confused about what CAN-SPAM is about.
that lawyer is arguably in violation of a few rules of lawyer professional conduct for contacting individuals like this.
sometimes i think i'd like to be a lawyer who goes after corrupt/rulebreaker lawyers.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
[insert picture of Dexter, only somehow edited so he looks like a lawyer]
What, the Goldman asshole? He's still around?
The negative ratings correspond with pro-Etsy comments on the blog post describing the privacy violation.
Here's a longer description:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?p=18717160#post18717160
Here's the post that made Etsy sellers sad:
http://www.eylerwerve.com/2011/etsy-com-publishes-real-names-and-purchase-history-of-buyers/
That post went up a few hours before the Ars story. I'd tipped Ars the link to my post and this thread, along with others.
Jesus. Way to make Etsy look professional, guys. Sorry, Metrometro, that you're getting caught in the backlash.
Chicken Coop Plans