In this thread, Stella says:
stellaloella says:
We respect you privacy.That said, certain, limited staff do have access to members’ Conversations. Convos are only looked at to help settle disputes and generally staff will ask first as a courtesy.
update Dec 4, 2007 by JB
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5355588&page=5
stellaloella says:
To answer the question posed here: yes, a few people on staff do have access to members’ Conversations. This is used in helping settle disputes. As a courtesy, we’ll ask before accessing a member’s Convos.
This is not something to worry about. We definitely don’t have the time or inclination to randomly read Convos or check up on people’s private discussions for fun.
This time she says “we’ll ask first” rather than “generally, we’ll ask first”.
December 5th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Yes, the filters could be set to pick up convos between certain members, I expect.
December 4th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5355588&page=5
editorial:
This time she says “we’ll ask first” rather than “generally, we’ll ask first”.
But she doesn’t say “we’ll always ask first”.
Bcecause, they don’t always ask first.
And it’s not always to settle a dispute, either. If neither the sender or the recipient reports a dispute, then admins reading that convo is not to settle a dispute.
I do agree that convos are not read “randomly”. I think they are read selectively, with purpose . People are not targetted randomly, they are targetted due to specific grudges and bias by admin staff, in my subjective experience. I also agree that this eavesdropping is not done “for fun”. It’s done out of suspicion and paranoia, not out of fun. In my subjective experience.
December 4th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Karina, when they read your convos, they told you they did it after the fact, right?
(at least they told you one of the times)
There are also cases where they read convos and never tell you, and neither the sender or recipient reported the convo or knew they were being read. If neither party reports a convo then what criteria does Etsy have to read it, it certainly sounds like a fishing expedition since they have no “just cause”.