Amazon's ablity to track behavior
Wired News: Amazon Knows Who You Are
Sometimes Amazon raises privacy concerns :
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SEATTLE -- Amazon.com has one potentially big advantage over its rival online retailers: It knows things about you that you may not know yourself.
Though plenty of companies have detailed systems for tracking customer habits, both critics and boosters say Amazon is the trailblazer, having collected information longer and used it more proactively. It even received a patent recently on technology aimed at tracking information about the people for whom its customers buy gifts.
Amazon sees such data gathering as the best way to keep customers happy and loyal, a relationship-building technique that analysts consider potentially crucial to besting other online competitors.
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But some privacy advocates believe Amazon is getting dangerously close to becoming Big Brother with your credit card number.
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More recently, the Seattle virtual retailer has launched a web search engine, called A9, that can remember everything you've ever searched for -- and the site reserves the right to share that information with its retailing arm.
Amazon also funds a website called 43 Things. It seeks to link people with similar goals, such as getting out of debt.
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Many companies, including Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, also are investing in community-building technology, and Garrity said Amazon has a clear interest in cultivating that same feeling around its sales site. But for now, it's unclear how 43 Things might eventually relate to Amazon's grander plans -- Berman said it's too early to speculate on such things.
Even some of Amazon's biggest foes say customer tracking can make shopping more convenient. Despite the benefits, however, government-backed restraints are needed as technology gets smarter, said Jason Catlett of the privacy advocacy group Junkbusters.
"People need legal rights to see the profiles that are built about them and to change or delete what they want," Catlett said.
Sometimes Amazon raises privacy concerns :
---
SEATTLE -- Amazon.com has one potentially big advantage over its rival online retailers: It knows things about you that you may not know yourself.
Though plenty of companies have detailed systems for tracking customer habits, both critics and boosters say Amazon is the trailblazer, having collected information longer and used it more proactively. It even received a patent recently on technology aimed at tracking information about the people for whom its customers buy gifts.
Amazon sees such data gathering as the best way to keep customers happy and loyal, a relationship-building technique that analysts consider potentially crucial to besting other online competitors.
---
But some privacy advocates believe Amazon is getting dangerously close to becoming Big Brother with your credit card number.
---
More recently, the Seattle virtual retailer has launched a web search engine, called A9, that can remember everything you've ever searched for -- and the site reserves the right to share that information with its retailing arm.
Amazon also funds a website called 43 Things. It seeks to link people with similar goals, such as getting out of debt.
---
Many companies, including Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, also are investing in community-building technology, and Garrity said Amazon has a clear interest in cultivating that same feeling around its sales site. But for now, it's unclear how 43 Things might eventually relate to Amazon's grander plans -- Berman said it's too early to speculate on such things.
Even some of Amazon's biggest foes say customer tracking can make shopping more convenient. Despite the benefits, however, government-backed restraints are needed as technology gets smarter, said Jason Catlett of the privacy advocacy group Junkbusters.
"People need legal rights to see the profiles that are built about them and to change or delete what they want," Catlett said.
posted by JTH at 8:30 PM
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