FC: The Nation finally realizes that eBay is cozy with the cops

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

I invited eBay to respond to a Feb 2003 report that raised the same concerns:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-04485.html
To the best of my knowledge, eBay never responded to my invitation.

Since then, I've spoken with people who have attended meetings where eBay 
representatives have met with law enforcement to discuss this kind of 
information sharing. These people confirmed the Feb 2003 report that 
appeared in Ha'aretz, an Israeli newspaper.

-Declan

---

http://thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030707&s=engle

   June 20, 2003
   Buyer Bewaree Bay Security Chief Turns Website Into Arm of the Lawby
   Jonah Engle

   Speaking at a conference this winter on Internet crime, eBay.com's
   director of law enforcement and compliance, Joseph Sullivan, offered
   law-enforcement officials extensive access to personal customer
   information.

   Founded in 1995 as a niche site for collectibles, eBay quickly grew
   into one of the Internet's largest websites, currently boasting 69
   million daily visitors, who place an average of 7.7 million bids each
   day. The company, now valued at $29.6 billion, has become synonymous
   with online shopping, and is rapidly expanding overseas.

   The talk, "Working with Law Enforcement," was delivered at the
   CyberCrime 2003 conference in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Sullivan, who
   left the Justice Department to become senior counsel for rules, trust
   and safety at eBay last year, told the audience of law-enforcement
   officials and industry executives that he didn't "know another website
   that has a privacy policy as flexible as eBay's," seemingly meaning
   that eBay acts particularly quickly to grant law enforcement extensive
   access to user information without regard to established legal
   procedures that protect individuals from civil rights abuses by the
   state.

   Brags Sullivan, "If you are a law-enforcement officer, all you have to
   do is send us a fax with a request for information, and ask about the
   person behind the seller's identity number, and we will provide you
   with his name, address, sales history and other details--all without
   having to produce a court order." (eBay itself goes further than this,
   employing six investigators who are charged with tracking down
   "suspicious people" and "suspicious behavior.")

   Seventy percent of eBay customers, as well as a significant portion of
   the rest of the online commercial world, make their purchases using
   (eBay-owned) Paypal, which provides clearing services for online
   financial transactions. Through Paypal, eBay has access to the
   financial records of tens of millions of customers. "If you contact
   me," said Sullivan to assembled law-enforcement authorities, "I will
   hook you up with the Paypal people. They will help you get the
   information you're looking for.... In order to give you details about
   credit-card transactions, I have to see a court order. I suggest that
   you get one, if that's what you're looking for."

   [...]




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