Top 10 Worst Consumer Privacy Infringers
Companies just can't seem to mind their own business
(Image is in the Public Domain)
This is a damn funny article explaining who is the worst of the worst and why:
America Online
America Online's privacy intrusion efforts are so aggressive and offensive, that the only explanation seems to be that AOL thought its clientele was so naïve they would never catch on to the company's privacy invasions.Amazon.com
Amazon.com is currently among the world leaders in distributing information about its users to advertisers, and if they continue this practice the recent advancements in data mining by Amazon threaten to make shopping online with any form of anonymity a thing of the past.Microsoft
Perhaps the most insidious method of privacy invasion Microsoft employs is the “Windows Live ID ? (formerly Microsoft .NET Passport). The Windows Live ID collects data from the majority of Microsoft networks including MSN, Hotmail, and Xbox Live, and stores them in a central database.Most of the others were data-brokering companies like ChoicePoint and Acxiom which have already been in the news for the way they treat consumer information. Some that I didn't expect, but am not surprised about are Yahoo and Google.
Thanks to the EFF newsletter for the link! Tags: Acxiom, Amazon, AOL, Big Business, ChoicePoint, Data Brokers, EFF