Ebay will fax your data to any old cop who asks

A REPORT ON Israeli newspaper Ha'Aretz said that law enforcers need only to call Ebay and they'll be sent every detail of visitors to its auctioneering web site, tout suite.

Reporting on a conference called Cyber Crime, the newspaper quotes executive Joseph Sullivan as explaining that visitors fill in the terms and conditions form on Ebay, and the second he or she clicks "I agree", that means she or he agrees that the firm can submit all personal data to any law enforcement officer who asks.

End users agree to a contract which in total amounts to over 10,000 words.

Ebay will fax back full names, email addresses, home address, phone number, and the history of items and all other data that it stores.

It has stored every bit of data since it started in 1995.

And Ebay says it routinely receives something like 200 such requests a month from law enforcement officials.

Ha'Aretz said that Ebay employs six investigators to track suspicious people and suspicious behaviour.

Ebay also owns Paypal and has 20 million files on its users, but it won't disclose those details without a court order.

You can find the story, in full, here. µ