Volume IX

Issue : 5: November 4, 2010

• Charter-Protects-University-Student-Facebook-Posts-Criticizing-Their-Professor
• Amazon.com Wins Privacy Battle to Protect Consumer Data
• Commissioner Finds Google Breached Canada's Privacy Legislation
• Support Grows for Piracy Domain Seizure Bill
• Google Sued for Disclosing Search Queries
• Oracle Amends Lawsuit Alleging Infringement by Google
• Facebook Seeks Ad Patent
• U.S. Court Bans LimeWire Service for Infringement of Copyright
• Apple Sues Motorola over Smart Phone Patent
• Business Methods Now Patentable In Canada

Home > Volume IX > Issue 5: November 4, 2010 > Amazon.com Wins Privacy Battle to Protect Consumer Data

Amazon.com Wins Privacy Battle to Protect Consumer Data

On October 25, 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington granted Amazon.com’s (Amazon) summary judgment motion against the North Carolina Department of Revenue (DOR).  The Court’s decision suspended the DOR’s requests for names, addresses and other personally identifiable information of Amazon’s customers so long as the DOR retains the generic purchasing information previously provided.  The American Civil Liberties Union intervened on behalf of the data subjects.

At issue was whether the First Amendment and the Video Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2710 (VPPA) prohibit the type of broad disclosures sought by the DOR, in its attempt to identify Amazon customers who may be potential tax evaders.   The Court expressed dismay at the fact that the DOR’s information requests were unnecessarily broad, and duplicative since the DOR already had anonymous data for its purposes.  The Court found that a buyer’s First Amendment rights, which protect information relating to  purchases of expressive content (books, films, etc) from disclosure to government would have been violated by the DOR’s requests so long as DOR retained the previously obtained purchasing information.  Moreover, the Court found there was no compelling governmental interest which could not be achieved by less restrictive means.  Similarly, Amazon, as a video tape service provider, is not permitted by VPPA to disclose personally identifiable information concerning video content purchase, except as expressly permitted by the VPPA. 

However, the decision does not prevent the general disclosure of names, addresses and other personal information of customers insofar as the actual purchasing decisions are not disclosed.  The Court did not accept the more expansive consumer protections initially sought by the ACLU.

For the ACLU opinion on freedom of expression in online purchasing and a copy of the order in Amazon.com LLC. v. Lay (North Carolina Department of Revenue), USDC WDWA c10-664 MJD (October 25, 2010), visit: 
http://tinyurl.com/36444xx

For additional information, visit:
http://tinyurl.com/35smzgp