If your erotic shopping habits include regular visits to eBay, beware: The king of the Internet auctions seems to have a nasty habit of its own - sharing user details with law enforcement officials.
The Israeli daily Haaretz obtained a recording of a lecture by eBay's director of law enforcement and compliance, Joseph Sullivan, given at a Cyber Crime 2003 forum lecture which was closed to the press. Sullivan told his listeners eBay is willing to hand over everything it knows about eBay visitors "that might be of interest to an investigator," the paper said, and it takes nothing more than asking.
"There's no need for a court order," Sullivan said on the tape, adding eBay has half a dozen investigators under contract to examine "suspicious users" and "suspicious behavior."
Haaretz said the "spirit of cooperation" is part of what emanated in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, but others might suggest it is also a convenient inroad toward making life a little more miserable for people who do nothing more grave than buy and sell erotica.
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