Stupid Company
@prserv.net
 from:
Chief Sparky 
lmozell
dandelion
| Amazon.com Posting E-mail Addresses
This stupid company, Amazon.com, is now posting the e-mail addresses of all the users who have participated in their Marketplace, zShops, or Auctions parts of their site. Everyone who has participated in these stores, whether as a buyer or seller, has a feedback profile page. Amazon.com recently redesigned this page, and now the page includes the e-mail address of the user/account. This was not the case before. Before if you wanted another "Amazonian's" e-mail address you had to request it by signing in. Now it's just posted in plain, public view for anyone, including spammers, harvesters, and fraudsters to see.
If you know the nickname (username) of an Amazon.com account, you can see the profile/feedback by typing "amazon.com/seller/[nickname goes here]" in your internet browser. For example, try:
amazon.com/seller/amazonsucks
then click on "View new Seller Profile page" and you will see the e-mail address in the gray line area. Notice you didn't have to sign in to see the e-mail address.
This is insane, and a violation of their privacy policy. Amazon.com is posting the e-mail address of eveyone who has at least created a nickname in order to participate in Marketplace, zShops, or Auctions. Amazon.com did not do this before, and they did not get the permission of anyone who is affected by this.
Do not be confused about the word "seller" in all this. You don't have to be a seller--just anyone with a nickname on Amazon.com.
I have complained numerous times about this to Amazon.com, but as usual they give scripted replies that say they do not share customer information with unaffiliated third parties, etc.
I suspect most people do not realize that their e-mail address may be posted in plain view for everyone to see at Amazon.com. If more people contacted Amazon.com customer service at amazon.com/contact-us or by calling 1-800-201-7575 to tell them how stupid they are, maybe they will reconsider. |
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BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium,MVM
join:2000-01-13
Beaverton, OR
 ·Verizon FIOS
 ·Verizon Online DSL
1 edit | Thank you for posting this, I have updated my account with a non-existent e-mail address, and told them where they can stick my account along with future purchases with their company.
Edit: I just spoke to customer service, ane he didn't like this either(or at least he acted that way). He said he would forward the information to the approapriate people, and I had the customer service agent lookup his own account to see that his private e-mail address was available for anyone with a amazon.com account to see.
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
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Holy crap. I thought this had to be a hoax, but you're telling the absolute truth. And the address isn't even a GIF or otherwise obscured -- it's straight, screenscrape-able TEXT!
This is pretty big news, and should be on the front page.
They still have a "request e-mail address" section on the first page, so this is some kind of screw-up.
Thanks for the information. You might want to submit this to Justin and/or places like Slashdot...
-- B |
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Stupid Company
@prserv.net
| reply to Stupid Company
Amazon.com is aware of this
I'd like to think this is a screw-up, and some technical mistake when they redesigned the profile pages. They redesigned the "new seller profile page" at least a month ago, or perhaps longer. I could not have been the only one to point this out to Amazon.com. They must be aware of this. If this is a mistake, what a stupid mistake it is and potentially illegal (since this is I believe a clear violation of the privacy policy).
If you speak to different Amazon.com customer service agents (by phone or e-mail), you will get different, and sometimes scripted answers: this appears to be a mistake/technical problem; we post e-mail addresses so others can contact you about an item you are selling (even though you may not be a seller!); your e-mail address is part of your profile and therefore a reflection of your reliability as a business partner; we are not in the business of disclosing personal information to third parties; etc.
It would help if you tell your family members and friends about this, especially if they have a nickname with Amazon.com. They should contact Amazon.com at the unpublished phone number in the first post, or send an e-mail to tell them this is wrong. It would be nice to keep this topic alive by having others share what unique responses they got from Amazon.com. Hopefully, someone out there won't get a public relations type scripted answer from Amazon.com. |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
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We don't do too much business with Amazon. I think the best approach is the alert-the-media panic. I voted this topic as "news-worthy" to bring it to the editors' attention, but again I suggest you submit directly to Justin and/or Slashdot and/or CNET and/or the EFF and/or EPIC and/or Metafilter and/or the NY Times and/or....
-- B |
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mrchris
We don't miss you Bush
Premium
join:2002-10-01
North Babylon, NY | reply to Stupid Company
Re: Amazon.com Posting E-mail Addresses
Good thing I use Hotmail for Amazon purchases online, which is filtered so only people on safe list can mail to it. |
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novaflare
The Dragon Was Here
Premium
join:2002-01-24
Barberton, OH | reply to Stupid Company
hmm im not seeing the email addy any where?
Maybe im just blind |
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Stupid Company
@prserv.net
from:
Chief Sparky
| Addresses are there
You're not blind--you just missed it.
Type this into your internet browser:
amazon.com/seller/jeff
then click on the "View new Seller Profile page" link which is right below the name "jeff." Scroll down and you will see the e-mail address below some of the recent feedback.
Otherwise you can just go direct to the seller profile page at »www.amazon.com/gp/help/seller/at···Seller=1
The customer's e-mail address on all seller profile pages are located in plain view in the gray line area. Look carefully. |
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AkumalDave
Life's A Beach
Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-20
Minneapolis, MN
| reply to Stupid Company
Unbelieveable!!!
I, too, thought your post must be a hoax - but NO!
I just poked around with a few possible nicknames for myself and my wife. We've both bought from amazon.com, but I didn't know if we had established nicknames. Doesn't look like we did (whew!) - but I found the email addresses for some folks who have nicknames similar to what ours would have been.
This is an incredibly poor decision on someone at Amazon's part. Talk about betraying confidences! Why not list Credit Card and Social Security Numbers along side the Email Addresses??? While they're at it, let the whole Internet know when those people won't be home, too!
Someone needs to step in on this ASAP. A few State Attorneys General might be a good place to start.
Dave
P.S. Tried to vote this thread up, but something in my browser or security settings render that function impotent.
--
"...enjoy every sandwich..." Warren Zevon 1947-2003 |
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Chief Sparky
52 Still On Patrol
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Thibodaux, LA
| Like everyone else, I thought this was a hoax.
Obviously, like everyone else, I was mistaken. Amazon has broken trust with both the sellers and buyers on their site.
As an aside, I work for a LARGE Seattle Newspaper (you figure it out), and I forwarded the link to this thread as well as a few examples to one of the tech reporters, who has a certain mindset against privacy violations. We'll see what comes of it. Hopefully, getting this out into the mainstream media will help Amazon re-think their position.
--
Life's too short to drive slow cars. |
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BigAl233
Premium
join:2001-08-14
New York, NY | reply to Stupid Company
Holy $hit!!!!!!
I can't beleive it!!?! |
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vlad7
join:2002-12-30 | reply to Stupid Company
Re: Amazon.com Posting E-mail Addresses
holly crap! |
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B
Premium,MVM
join:2000-10-28
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I guess this means they haven't fixed it yet. Hey guys, if enough of you mod up the thread as "News-worthy" maybe it'll get a little more press around here. I've hesitated to do any publicizing myself, as it's Stupid Company who should get the credit.
-- B |
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justin
Australian
join:1999-05-28
Brooklyn, NY
1 edit | reply to Stupid Company
I viewed my own account, not logged in, and got "request sellers email" as a link.
I tried "amazonsucks" and also got the same link - "request sellers email".
I guess .. they fixed it? |
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Stupid Company
@prserv.net
| reply to Stupid Company
Please publicize as appropriate
I want to thank those members of Broadbandreports.com for keeping this topic alive. I welcome anyone publicizing this issue in any way as appropriate. I don't need or want any credit for this story (I wouldn't be "anonymous" if I wanted the credit). I did submit this story to slashdot.org a few days ago, but as of recent they either haven't got to it yet or they are not interested. EPIC is aware of this as well.
I hope Amazon.com and others fully understand why this is an important privacy issue. You should have the right and final say if you want your personal e-mail address posted for the public to see. If you create an "About Me" page or write a review and choose to have your address posted with your review, then you concent to have your address posted. If you have done this, then you probably need not worry about the new seller profile page. But for the rest of us who thought we had the choice to withhold our e-mail addresses from public view, we all ought to be mad.
But then again, maybe Amazon.com wants anyone to contact you. Don't like a fellow Amazonian (maybe because he or she outbid you for example)? Now you know his or her e-mail address. Or perhaps Amazon.com wants you to contact their customers to let them know that a security verification needs to be done on their account, and that they must enter their nickname and password in a "special form." |
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ke9nr
Premium
join:2003-07-13
Las Vegas, NV
| reply to justin
Re: Amazon.com Posting E-mail Addresses
said by justin :
I viewed my own account, not logged in, and got "request sellers email" as a link.
I tried "amazonsucks" and also got the same link - "request sellers email".
I guess .. they fixed it?
Click on the "View new Seller Profile page" link. It's still there in the lower gray bar. 
--
Ken
http://www.ke9nr.net/ |
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justin
Australian
join:1999-05-28
Brooklyn, NY
Host:
IPv6
Business Connectiv..
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Console Tech
| I see what you mean!
You can play "guess the famous person"
»www.amazon.com/seller/jbezos
etc
And I found my own account 
this is very annoying. |
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Chief Sparky
52 Still On Patrol
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Thibodaux, LA
1 edit | reply to justin
Justin, look at the area I circled. It's just the example username of amazonsucks.
I tried it with several others... some worked, some were not valid usernames.
edit: oops, I see you found out how while I was doing the screen shot. 
--
Life's too short to drive slow cars. |
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justin
Australian
join:1999-05-28
Brooklyn, NY
Host:
IPv6
Business Connectiv..
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Console/Handheld g..
Console Tech
| I found if you look at the list of top 100 reviewers, for example, anyone with a nickname-type name, can be viewed this way. With enough guessing, you could find the nickname and email of .. hollywood celebrities? political figures? who knows. I've never used auctions before, my account has a bland nickname, but my email is there.
Annoying.
I wrote a news snippet on it, it is on the front page. |
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Chief Sparky
52 Still On Patrol
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Thibodaux, LA
1 edit | said by justin :
I wrote a news snippet on it, it is on the front page.
Thanks Justin! It potentially has some rather-more-than-annoying privacy implications. At a minimum, it may force people to change addresses - at the worst, it can allow a stalker to hunt down his victim. I found mine the first time I tested it. Granted, it's a mail account on my own server that I use strictly for online purchases, but I'd rather not have to dump it and make a new one.
I slotted links to this discussion and Justin's blurb to a couple of the Tech reporters at the Seattle Times - let's hope they do some digging and Amazon fixes this asap.
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Life's too short to drive slow cars. |
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