"Amazon will capture and control every Web transaction performed by Fire users.”

[JD Gumby]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Anonymised data, not data about what any specific user is doing. I really don't see any harm in that.

Anonymized data isn't.

[carld]

Originally Posted by JD Gumby

Anonymized data isn't.

If someone wants to know when and where I buy my Crestor so badly that they'll search through thousands of records and match it to census data, they could just ask me.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by carld

If someone wants to know when and where I buy my Crestor so badly that they'll search through thousands of records and match it to census data, they could just ask me.

But they should pay you for the privilege, not the other way around

[molman]

Originally Posted by carld

I've been using Opera Mini for ages and have never heard anyone complain about privacy concerns. It wasn't until Amazon showed up that people freaked. I think there's some FUD shoveling group-think going on here.

One of many (heck it was raised back in the Symbian version days):

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...or_iphone.html

And those in the know (IT Security field etc) have been well aware, and discussed the issues around for awhile.

Even Wikipedia has this nice line (more specifically around SSL which Amazon is unclear on as people attempt to parse their statements);

When visiting an encrypted web page, the Opera Software company's servers decrypt the page, then re-encrypt it themselves, breaking end-to-end security.

Due to this, Opera Mini should not be used for critical applications such as Internet banking.

For the people who don't care, that’s fine, my qualm is that most people don't truly understand how this stuff works (my mum etc), nor do I believe that with many of these things (elements of Facebook, Google etc) people would choose to op't in if the company was explicit with specifics upfront in a non-legal language manner that people understood. This approach specifically to delivering the web is rather invasive, and people weren't too happy about companies like Nebuad that did behavioural tracking via your ISP (http://gigaom.com/2009/05/19/nebuad-bites-the-dust/), I personally don't see this to be much different.

Anyway just because you don't care, or don't appreciate all the implications doesn't make it FUD.

[carld]

Originally Posted by molman

Anyway just because you don't care, or don't appreciate all the implications doesn't make it FUD.

I understand the implications just fine, please don't insult my intelligence. As far as banking ... well duh ... you don't use an intermediary for anything like that. The chances that a reputable company like Amazon is going to do something dastardly with my data is so vanishingly small that I do indeed think all this "OH NO! IT'S BIG BROTHER AMAZON!" sturm und drang rises well past the level of FUD.

[molman]

Originally Posted by carld

I understand the implications just fine, please don't insult my intelligence. As far as banking ... well duh ... you don't use an intermediary for anything like that. The chances that a reputable company like Amazon is going to do something dastardly with my data is so vanishingly small that I do indeed think all this "OH NO! IT'S BIG BROTHER AMAZON!" sturm und drang rises well past the level of FUD.

What a childish reply.

As to your assertion re: Amazon, I'm sure all those SONY users had similar expectations also, stuff happens, nor is the discussion necessarily around data handling anyway but rather the implications of such a technology with regards to privacy and security (including your duh re: banking that I would gauge is not necessarily obvious to the masses).

[carld]

Originally Posted by molman

What a childish reply.

Blah blah blah, welcome to ignore.

[molman]

Originally Posted by carld

Blah blah blah, welcome to ignore.

meh. Just because we don't agree and I find your delivery unconstructive doesn't invalidate your view.

Don't get me wrong, there are bigger issues in the world more worthy of focus, even so it doesn't mean that topics like this aren’t worthy of thoughtful discussion or that amoral profit making corporations shouldn't be accountable. There is a reason there is an op't out option after all.

[kjk]

An Amazon spokesperson tries to clarify the issue to GigaOm:

“Is Amazon able to peer into its customer usage behavior and use that to offer services based on that data. For instance if you see thousands of your customers going to buy SeeVees shoes from say a store like James Perse at a certain price, can you guys use that data to specifically tailor the Amazon store and offer up deals on those very same pair of shoes?” – the answer is no, as you can see in our terms and conditions, URLs are used to troubleshoot and diagnose Amazon Silk technical issues. Moreover, you can also choose to operate Amazon Silk in basic or “off-cloud” mode.

[kennyc]

An article I just ran across:


Amazon Silk: An Ingenious Plan to Get You To Buy More Stuff
Todd Wasserman

Pretty much everyone knew that Amazon would introduce a tablet PC last week, but what may have come as a surprise to many was that the company also planned to get into the browser business.

Amazon Silk, as the new browser is known, is a somewhat unusual product introduction for the company, which is best known for online retailing. Then again, with Kindle, Amazon proved it could successfully market a hardware product, too, so perhaps the move isn’t that hard to fathom. If you’re wondering why Amazon has put a lot of energy and research into creating a product for which it will probably never earn a dime, here are a few reasons:

rest here:
http://mashable.com/2011/10/01/silk-smooth-amazon/

[molman]

Originally Posted by kjk

An Amazon spokesperson tries to clarify the issue to GigaOm:

Thanks for the link. It's interesting to see PR responses and then go and read Amazons Privacy Notice which governs the conditions of using the Silk Browser. Even the Silk Terms and Conditions is so hedged as these things tend to be. We 'generally' do this..that etc. Personally I just wish they'd match their legal agreements to what they say they do so there is no room for misunderstanding for what they are doing both today and in the future when this has dropped from the news cycle.