The Storque reported today that Etsy has made some changes to their privacy policy.
Bolding added by editor.
Your privacy is very important to us at Etsy! When you submit personal information to Etsy, Etsy complies with our Privacy Policy concerning how we collect, store and distribute this information.
In an effort to make the Privacy Policy easier to understand and user friendly, we have made some changes to the Policy. Please note the content of the Policy has not materially changed!
Etsy is a secure site. We are a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program and we comply with the EU Safe Harbor Framework set forth by the Department of Commerce. Pursuant to our Privacy Policy, it is our duty to notify the community of changes — even minor ones like these — to the Privacy Policy.
Now, that Storque article is closed to comments and questions, so no one can ask exactly what the changes were. I have gotten a cached version of the previous Privacy Policy, from November 19, 2007.
I have compared the old version and the new version, and the changes are as follows.
Bolding added on changed text.
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Because this Web site wants to demonstrate its commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe. If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact Robert Kalin at support@etsy.com . If you do not receive acknowledgement of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you should contact TRUSTe at http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php. TRUSTe will then serve as a liaison with us to resolve your concerns.
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Due to Etsy’s commitment to your privacy, it has agreed to disclose its information practices and have its privacy practices reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe. If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact Etsy’s legal department at support@etsy.com . If you do not receive acknowledgement of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, contact TRUSTe at http://www.truste.org/consumers/watchdog_complaint.php. TRUSTe will serve as a liaison to resolve your concerns
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We hate spam as much as you do.We never sell or disclose your name or e-mail address to third parties.
• Etsy collects personal information when you register with Etsy to use Etsy services or to post content on Etsy. When you register we ask for your email address and certain optional information such as biographical information, favorite materials and personal interests.
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• Etsy will not sell or disclose your name or e-mail address to third parties without your explicit consent, except as specified in this privacy policy.
• Etsy collects personal information when you register to use Etsy services or to post content on Etsy. At registration you are asked for your email address and certain other optional information.
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IP addresses may be used for various purposes,
including: to diagnose or service technology problems reported by our users or engineers that are associated with the IP addresses controlled by a specific web company or ISP; to estimate the total number of users visiting Etsy from specific geographical regions; to make sure that people are not voting for themselves or friends during contests or promotions.
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IP addresses may be used for various research purposes.
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We will send you
strictlyservice-related announcements on rare occasions when it is necessary to do so.For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance, we might send you an email.
Generally, you may not opt-out of these communications, which are not promotional in nature. If you do not wish to receive them, you have the option to deactivate your account by emailing support@etsy.com from the email address you signed up with.Choice/Opt-out
If you no longer wish to receive service communications, you may opt-out of receiving them by emailing us at support@etsy.com .
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Etsy will send you service-related announcements on rare occasions when it is necessary to do so.
You may not opt-out of service-related communications, which are not promotional in nature. If you do not wish to receive them, you have the option to deactivate your account by emailing support@etsy.com from the email address you signed up with.
Administrative Messages (this whole section is new)
Etsy may periodically email you with administrative messages. Etsy will not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent. Your information may be combined with information Etsy collects from other companies and used to improve and personalize services, content and advertising. If you don’t wish to receive administrative messages or participate in these programs, simply opt-out by emailing support@etsy.com.
Choice/Opt-out
If you no longer wish to receive administrative messages, you may opt-out by emailing support@etsy.com .
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Etsy uses its own cookies for a number of purposes, including to: Access your information when you “sign in”; keep track of preferences you specify while you are using Etsy’s services; display the most appropriate advertising banners, based on your interests and activity on Etsy; estimate and report our total audience size and traffic; conduct research to improve Etsy’s content and services.
We do not link the information we store in cookies to any personally identifiable information you submit while on our site.
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Etsy uses its own cookies for a number of purposes, including to: Access your information when you “sign in”; keep track of preferences you specify while you are using Etsy’s services; display the most appropriate advertising banners, based on your interests and activity on Etsy; estimate and report Etsy’s total audience size and traffic; conduct research to improve Etsy’s content and services.
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When you post a message, your Etsy ID or alias
that you are posting underis visible to other users.
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When you post a message, your Etsy ID or alias is visible to other users.
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Etsy may be required to disclose personally identifiable information under special circumstances, such as to comply with subpoenas or when your actions violate the Etsy Terms of Service. Etsy may share demographic information with business partners,
such as “53% of users who regularly user Etsy chat are between 18 and 24″ or the like. No personally identifiable information will ever be used without your permission
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Etsy may be required to disclose personally identifiable information under special circumstances, such as to comply with subpoenas or when your actions violate the Etsy Terms of Use. Etsy may disclose personally identifiable information to parties in compliance with Etsy’s Copyright Policy, as Etsy in Etsy’s sole discretion believes necessary or appropriate in connection with an investigation of fraud, intellectual property infringement, piracy, or other unlawful activity. In such events, Etsy may disclose name, street address, city, state, zip code, country, phone number, email address and company name. Etsy may share aggregated demographic information with business partners.
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Etsy does not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with other people or nonaffiliated companies except to provide products or services you’ve requested or when we have your permission. It may be necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of Etsy’s terms of use, or as otherwise required by law. We will transfer information about you if Etsy is acquired by or merged with another company. In this event, Etsy will notify you by email or by putting a prominent notice on the Etsy web site before information about you is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
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Etsy will not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with nonaffiliated parties except as specified in this Privacy Policy to provide products or services you have requested or when Etsy has your permission. It may be necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of Etsy’s Terms of Use, as specified in this Privacy Policy or as otherwise required by law. Etsy will transfer information about you if Etsy is acquired by or merged with another company. In this event, Etsy will notify you by email or by putting a prominent notice on the Etsy web site before information about you is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
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As part of the buying and selling process
on Etsy, you will will obtain the email address and/or shipping address of other Etsy members. By entering into our User Agreement, you agree that, with respect to other users’ personal information that you obtain through Etsy or through an Etsy-related communication or Etsy-facilitated transaction, Etsy hereby grants to you a license to use such information only for Etsy-related communications that are not unsolicited commercial messages. Etsy and our users do not tolerate spam. Therefore, without limiting the foregoing, you are not licensed to add an Etsy user, even a user who has purchased an item from you, to your mail list (email or physical mail) without their express consent.
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As part of the buying and selling process, you may obtain another Etsy user’s email address, shipping address and/or other information. Pursuant to Etsy’s Terms of Use, you have a limited license to use this information. This information should only be used for Etsy-related communications or for Etsy-facilitated transactions. Etsy has not granted you a license to use the information for unsolicited commercial messages. Without limiting the foregoing, without express consent from the user, you are not licensed to add any Etsy user to your email or physical mail list.
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We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Web site.
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Without limiting the above, in an effort to respect your privacy and Etsy’s ability to keep the community free from bad actors, Etsy will not otherwise disclose your personal information to law enforcement, other government officials, or other third parties without a subpoena, court order, legal process, or substantially similar legal procedure, except when Etsy believes in good faith that the disclosure of information is necessary to protect Etsy’s rights, prevent imminent physical harm or financial loss, or to report suspected illegal activity.
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Bulletin Boards / Chat Rooms
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Forums / Chat Rooms
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…
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Third Parties
Except as otherwise expressly included in this Privacy Policy, this document addresses only the use and disclosure of information Etsy collects from you. If you disclose your information to others, whether they are buyers or sellers on Etsy or throughout the internet, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them. Etsy does not control the privacy policies of third parties, and you are subject to the privacy policies of those third parties where applicable. Etsy encourages you to ask questions before you disclose your personal information to others.
(this whole section is new)
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You can delete your Etsy account
at any time from your account page; however, please note that your identification, billing and contact information may remain in Etsy’s records for some period.
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You can delete your Etsy account by emailing support@etsy.com. Please note that your identification, billing and contact information may remain in Etsy’s records for some period.
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We limit access to personal information about you to employees who we believe reasonably need to come into contact with that information to provide products or services to you or in order to do their jobs. Your Etsy Account Information is password-protected. In certain areas, Etsy uses SSL-encryption to protect data transmissions
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Etsy limits access to personal information about you to employees who Etsy believes reasonably need to come into contact with that information to provide products or services to you or in order to do their jobs. Your Etsy Account Information is password-protected
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If your personally identifiable information changes,
or if you no longer desire our service, you may correct, update,delete or deactivateit by making the change on your member account page or by emailing our Customer Support at support@etsy.com or by contacting usby telephoneor postal mail at the contact information listed below. We will respond to your request within 10-20 business days.
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If your personally identifiable information changes you may correct or update it by making the change on Your Etsy Page. You may delete or deactivate your account by emailing Customer Support at support@etsy.com or by postal mail at the contact information listed below. Etsy will respond to your request within 10-20 business days.
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The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card number
and/or social security number) on our registrationor order forms,
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The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card number) for registration
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To learn more about our SSL, follow this link.
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(entire sentence deleted)
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If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement,
the homepage, and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.We reserve the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email,or by means of a notice on our homepage.
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If the privacy policy is changed, Etsy will post changes so that you are aware of those changes. Etsy reserves the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review it frequently. If Etsy makes material changes to this policy you will be notified here, by email, or other places Etsy deems appropriate.
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September 28th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
[...] see this past UEN article about the last change to the Privacy Policy. That time I went through the new policy line by line to [...]
November 28th, 2007 at 9:52 am
I think that a big part of what is so disturbing is knowing that many Etsy decisions have been made based on personal feelings and not on based on legal or businesslike grounds. This seems to give them wiggle room to justify those decisions.
The registration page does have a checkbox to indicate agreement with the Terms of Use. And within the Terms of Use is buried the phrase that you must agree with the TOU, Privacy Policy, D&D, and “other policy documents and community guidelines as posted on Etsy” before you may become a member of Etsy. Yeah…. like rules that are posted in the middle of some anonymous thread that no one really knows about unless they read the UEN.
November 27th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
I think the paragraph about using buyer’s email addresses for eg. mailing lists requires some clarification.
So far it states that the express consent of the user is required but can Etsy turn round and clobber you with a disciplinary measure if you add buyers to a mailing list and THEN give them ‘unsubscribe’ info? there was some discussion recently about what an ‘opt in’ mailing list actually was, whether it required action or inaction on the part of the buyer for initial inclusion. there was a variety of opinions expressed on this matter.
since Etsy seems quite woolly in its decision-making i personally would prefer a more concrete example from them about how to run a mailing list ie. a step-by-step approach to setting it up and including email addresses. childish i know but when dealing with Etsy aim low in the intelligence/maturity stakes!
… and that leaves me feeling a little more than just cold at the “at our discretion” clauses!
November 27th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
The thing is, people agree to the policy that is in place at the time they register. When the policy changes, they should be asked to agree to the new policy. This way Etsy is protected because users cannot claim “I never agreed to that, you changed it after I joined”. I don’t think an email to all users is needed, just a page right after you log in, for the first login after the change is made. On that page it tells you the policy has changed and you have to re-agree in order to continue using your account.
Actually come to think of it, the registration page doesn’t even have a check box saying “I agree to the Etsy terms of use”.
Re: sharing personal info with third parties, that “at our sole discretion” loophole is really not standard. In my work I handled requests for personal information and the only times we would share user information were: subpoenas, court orders, or when we were legally required to pro-actively contact law enforcement (such as anything related to child pornography). I just can’t think of any scenario where it would be right for Etsy to share personal info of a user with any third party without a subpoena, court order, or legal requirement. Even if Sanrio or a large company contacted Etsy demanding such info, a company like that can get a subpoena so no exception would have to be made. Legitimate copyright claims will obtain legitimate subpoenas.
facade says:
“The reason of “prevent…financial loss” can be used against anything unflattering we say.”
yep, that phrase jumped out at me too. If they even think your actions MIGHT hurt their business, they now have permission to share your information as they see fit, in their sole discretion.
I am also not worried about legal action- I don’t infringe on copyrights or trademarks, I don’t libel anyone, I don’t break any laws with my Etsy account. But I do say things critical of Etsy which they in their paranoid discretion might decide are a “threat” to their business…
November 27th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
I knew I should have reloaded the page before posting.
*dittoes JB from #11*
November 27th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
JB,
Thanks for posting the comparisons for us.
As an Etsy user, I’m not too worried about changes that allow them to share my info for legal reasons — I don’t use my Etsy account for criminal purposes and I’m not especially paranoid about the government. But I am surprised that Etsy’s going there, if only because it will make so much more work to get involved in trademark disputes and the like.
I can even find an innocent explanation for “We do not link the information we store in cookies to any personally identifiable information”. If you’re compiling stats, it’s really hard to get around some sort of back-end linking, because you need some way to unscramble and verify where the info came from in the first place.
But sharing with “other third parties…except when Etsy believes in good faith”? Yikes. That doesn’t even restrict it to legal disputes. Etsy can release anything to anyone. The reason of “prevent…financial loss” can be used against anything unflattering we say.
November 27th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Thanks everyone, I know it may seem anal to document all the changes but I know as a reader of UEN I’d want to know what was changed, so I just listed them for anyone else who wants to know, even though most of them are just trivial and cosmetic. I went through it with the fine tooth comb to save any other readers from doing it. :-)
The few changes that are more than cosmetic are the ones that concern me more.
Etsy has commented on a forum thread about the changes:
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5341480
By theway, that forum thread was started in Ideas, but Etsy moved it to Crafting and Business where it got quickly buried. Hmmmm!
“As was specified in the former and the current Policy, Etsy may have to share certain information with third parties without your consent. For example, if Etsy receives a court order.”
the old privacy policy said that, the new one says they *may* share personal information if they, in their infinite wisdom and maturity, believe it is necessary to do so. WITH OR WITHOUT a court order. It is a material change and it’s giving them a lot more wiggle room.