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Etsy.com reveals customers' real name and buying history

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Posts

  • PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    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
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  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    The CEO bought things. But he's a 30 year old hipster male, so, the worst I'd probably expect is some sunglasses with blinds on them.

    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
  • JustinSane07JustinSane07 Really, stupid? Brockton__BANNED USERS regular
    edited March 2011
    He could buy an easter island butt plug if he was into that kind of thing.

    JustinSane07 on
  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    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.

    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
  • adytumadytum The Inevitable Rise And FallRegistered User regular
    edited March 2011
    bowen wrote: »
    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.

    adytum on
  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    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
  • ArbitraryDescriptorArbitraryDescriptor changed Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    If they disallowed indexing in their robots.txt, would Google drop the old results the next time it attempted to refresh them?

    ArbitraryDescriptor on
  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    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
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  • durandal4532durandal4532 Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    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.

    durandal4532 on
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  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    haha, wow

    Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
    NREqxl5.jpg
    it was the smallest on the list but
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  • japanjapan Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    japan wrote: »
    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.

    japan on
  • Privacy Concerned ReaderPrivacy Concerned Reader Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I got one too. Gave him the whole summary, since he asked. Was so big, private messaging couldn't cope and I had to email it. Whoops.

    Privacy Concerned Reader on
  • RikushixRikushix VancouverRegistered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I didn't get a private message :(

    Haha.

    Rikushix on
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  • Privacy Concerned ReaderPrivacy Concerned Reader Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Rob Kalin speaks! http://www.etsy.com/teams/7718/site-help/discuss/6820881/page/9/

    ... 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.

    Privacy Concerned Reader on
  • RikushixRikushix VancouverRegistered User regular
    edited March 2011
    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.

    Rikushix on
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  • ImprovoloneImprovolone Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    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
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  • kildykildy Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    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.

    kildy on
  • fightinfilipinofightinfilipino Angry as Hell #BLMRegistered User regular
    edited March 2011
    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.

    fightinfilipino on
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  • IvarIvar Oslo, NorwayRegistered User regular
    edited March 2011
    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]

    Ivar on
  • The CatThe Cat Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited March 2011
    so etsy is perhaps unsurprisingly ok with hosting unoriginal thieving fucktards - http://twitpic.com/4a762h

    The Cat on
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  • bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Hipsters gonna hip... ?

    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
  • JustinSane07JustinSane07 Really, stupid? Brockton__BANNED USERS regular
    edited March 2011
    It looks like that lawyer is trying to gather preliminary data for if he has a viable class action lawsuit.

    JustinSane07 on
  • FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    edited March 2011
    The Cat wrote: »
    so etsy is perhaps unsurprisingly ok with hosting unoriginal thieving fucktards - http://twitpic.com/4a762h

    What, the Goldman asshole? He's still around?

    Fencingsax on
  • metrometrometrometro Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    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.

    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.

    metrometro on
  • Privacy Concerned ReaderPrivacy Concerned Reader Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    metrometro wrote: »
    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.

    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.

    Privacy Concerned Reader on
  • TomantaTomanta Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    Did anyone tip off The Daily Show? This seems perfect for one of their middle segments.

    Tomanta on
  • phil118phil118 Registered User new member
    edited July 2011
    I never knew this site was around..pretty cool site neat little things sold on their.


    Chicken Coop Plans

    phil118 on
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