Amazon.com fights tax collectors' demands for 50 million customer records

[Dave Farber <dfarber () me com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
> Date: April 20, 2010 1:51:49 AM EDT
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Amazon.com fights tax collectors' demands for 50 million customer records

> Dave,
>
> IPers may be interested in our story over at CNET:
>
> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20002870-38.html
> > Amazon.com filed a lawsuit on Monday to fend off a sweeping demand from North Carolina's tax collectors: detailed 
> > records including names and addresses of customers and information about exactly what they purchased. The lawsuit 
> > says the demand violates the privacy and First Amendment rights of Amazon's customers. North Carolina's Department 
> > of Revenue had ordered the online retailer to provide full details on nearly 50 million purchases made by state 
> > residents between 2003 and 2010.
>
> The background is that last year, N.C. enacted a law saying that the existence of an affiliate program required 
> Amazon.com to collect sales tax on shipments to that state. Amazon promptly ended its N.C. affiliate program. But the 
> state seems to be claiming that it can collect these taxes from retailers *retroactively*.
>
> If we were just talking about widgets, that would be one thing. But because books and movies are involved, there are 
> special First Amendment and privacy concerns. For background, see:
> http://www.cobar.org/opinions/opinion.cfm?OpinionID=560
> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9824635-38.html
> http://epic.org/privacy/vppa/
>
> I wonder if the N.C. tax collectors really thought this through. They tell me to expect a public statement from them 
> on Friday.
>
> -Declan



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