Running Head: PRIVACY POLICY
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Privacy Policy
Fahim Alrashdi
California State University Northridge
Marketing 350 #14018
18 February 2019
PRIVACY POLICY
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Privacy Policy
Introduction
A privacy policy refers to a legal document or a statement that outlines some or all of the
ways a company collects, uses, discloses, and controls a client’s or customer’s data. A privacy
policy is important to customers since it is used to protect them. It achieves this by guaranteeing
them that their information is protected. This paper examines the privacy policies of Amazon and
eBay and highlights their main practices. Also, the paper discusses some of the similarities and
differences between the privacy policies of these companies. After that, the paper critiques some
practices of Amazon and eBay based on research. Lastly, the paper offers various
recommendations for how the two companies could change their practices to offer more
protection to their customers and clients.
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational technology organization that focuses on cloud
computing, e-commerce, and artificial intelligence. Founded by Jeff Bezos and based in Seattle,
Washington, Amazon is one of the most valuable public company in the world ahead of
Alphabet and Apple. Measured by market capitalization and revenue, it is the largest ecommerce and computing platform in the world. eBay, on the other hand, is an American
multinational e-commerce organization located in San Jose, California. The corporation
facilitates business-to-consumer as well as consumer-to-consumer sales via its website. Founded
in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar, eBay has grown to operate in about 30 countries worldwide, as of
2011. Below is a summary of the Privacy Policy of the two companies.
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Amazon Privacy Policy
Amazon.com privacy policy describes how the company gathers, uses, manages, and
discloses its client’s personal information about the Amazon.com websites, products,
applications, experiences, and services. To start with, the privacy policy states that Amazon
gathers customer’s information in the course of providing services to them, which they use to
improve their customer’s Amazon experiences. Some of the types of information they gather
include information given to them by their customers, automatic information, email and mobile
communications, and information from other sources. The company uses the information
collected to provide and deliver Amazon Web Services (AWS) offerings, to measure, support
and enhance AWS offerings, to market, communicate with the clients, and to comply with the
law that requires them to collect personal information at times. The organization makes use of
cookies to enable their system to recognize the customer’s devices or browsers and to provide
services to them (Amazon.com Privacy Policy, 2017).
Also, the privacy policy outlines how the organization shares the personal information
they collect. According to the policy, the company only shares its customer’s information with
its subsidiaries that are subjected to their privacy notice or at least follows practices as protective
as those described in the privacy notice. The company assures its customers that it works to
protect the security of their information during transmission by use of Secure Sockets Layer
(SSL) software whose main job to encrypt client’s information. The privacy policy requires the
customers to use a strong password and ensure they don’t land to unauthorized personnel. The
privacy policy states that the company’s website contains links to other sites and third-party
advertising. The company offers its users access to a vast range of information concerning their
account and their interactions with the company’s website. Amazon.com does not allow the sale
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of products to children under the age of 18years. However, the company sells children’s product
for purchase by parents or guardians. Lastly, the privacy policy makes it clear that any dispute
that arises from visiting the websites is a subject to the notice. The privacy policy also states that
the business changes constantly so does their privacy notice.
eBay Privacy Policy
eBay privacy policy explains how the organization gathers, uses, discloses, retains, and
protects their customers and client’s personal information. The privacy policy applies to any
eBay application, website, tool or service where this privacy policy is referenced. According to
the privacy policy, the company uses their customer’s personal information to offer and enhance
their services, contact the customers about their accounts, for marketing, as well as to detect and
reduce illegal or fraudulent activities. eBay’s privacy policy shares their customer’s personal
information with several parties including the eBay Inc. corporate family members, financial
institutions and service providers, law enforcers, and other eBay users that are authorized by the
customer.
There are some similarities and differences between these two privacy policies. To start
with the similarities, both the eBay and the Amazon policies explains how the organizations
gather, uses, and discloses the customer’s personal information. Also, the two privacy policies
use their customer’s information to enhance their customer’s experiences on the websites.
Moreover, both the Amazon privacy notice and the eBay privacy policy outlines the various
ways through which their customer’s data is protected. However, there are a few areas where
these two policies differ. To start with, unlike Amazon.com privacy policy, eBay privacy policy
allows its customers to choose how the company uses their personal information. Also, unlike
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Amazon privacy policy, eBay privacy notice informs their customers the range of time they will
retain their personal information (eBay Privacy Policy, 2018).
Analysis of the eBay and Amazon Privacy Policies Based on Research
Both the Amazon.com and the eBay works hard to ensure that they protect their
customer’s and client’s information as required by the research. For instance, they both states
that they have set technologies that ensure that their client’s information is protected from
compromise. Moreover, the privacy policies outline how they collect, use, manage and retain
customer’s data. Also, the organization describes how they use their customer’s data which helps
assure the safety of customer’s data.
However, the two organizations have some drawbacks that may expose their customer’s
data to some cybersecurity threats such as hacking. With the advancement in technology, the
need for consumer protection increased (Singer, 2014). Nowadays, hackers will do anything to
get away with customer’s personal information that helps them to compromise customer’s
sensitive data. According to Nora Moran, huge changes in the economy and technology affects
businesses, individuals, societies, and interactions between consumers. The privacy policies for
the two organizations outlines different ways through which they work to ensure their customer’s
information is protected from compromise. However, privacy policies fail to completely protect
their clients. The Amazon.com, for instance, states in their privacy policy that there are thirdparty advertising as well as external links in their websites which hackers could use to steal
customer’s sensitive data. The hackers can attach links to the websites that contain malware,
which spreads to a system once opened.
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Moreover, Nora Moran states that customers have different rights including the rights to
be heard, right to safety, right to choose, as well as the right to be informed (Moran, 2015). The
two policies, however, seems to violate some of these rights to the consumers. For example, the
two policies fail to have the money back guarantee in their policies. This turns out to be a
problem for most of the customers when they need their money back. Also, the two
organizations fail to have a policy that helps customers in the case of the sale of a defective
product. This violates the customer’s rights to be informed. Looking at some of the reviews
given by customers in the sitejabber about the two organizations, it clear that the two companies
have a weak privacy policy that fails to protect their customers fully. Most of them seem to
complain about the money-back guarantee. Lastly, the two organization’s privacy policy is not
up-to-date meaning that they miss some of the technological advances.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that the privacy policy of the two organizations outline some
important ways through which they collect, use, manage, and retain their consumer’s data. The
privacy policy is important documents that help protect customer’s data. For instance, by
outlining how the client’s data is gathered, used, disclosed, and retained, the privacy policy helps
ensure that the customer is aware of the usage of their data. However, there are some ways in
which the privacy policy of the two organizations violates the customer’s rights. For example,
the two organization’s privacy policies fail to have the money back guarantee for their customers
even though some of their products are delivered while defective.
I would recommend some measures for the two privacy policies to ensure that they assure
customers of their data’s safety. To start with, I would recommend the two companies to include
the money back guarantee in their privacy policies that assure their customers of money return in
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case the products turned out defective. Also, I would recommend the two companies to follow
the right measures to ensure that their customer’s data is safe. For example, I would recommend
Amazon to ensure that the links and the third-party advertising on the websites are done away
with. This would help ensure that the sites are safer. The government could as well come up with
policies that protect the customers. Moreover, it is advisable that the privacy policies of the two
organization are updated regularly. This helps ensure that they contain all new trends in
technology.
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References
Amazon.com. (2017). Amazon.com Help: Amazon.com Privacy Notice. [online] Available at:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=468496 [Accessed 17
Feb.
2019]
Ebay.co.uk. (2018). User Privacy Notice. [online] Available at:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/pages/help/policies/privacy-policy.html#summary [Accessed 17
Feb.
2019].
Moran, N. (2015). Consumer Information In The Digital Age.
Singer, P. W., & Friedman, A. (2014). Cybersecurity: What everyone needs to know. OUP USA.
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Privacy Policy Outline
I. Introduction Paragraph
Introduces privacy policies and mention what the paper is contained of.
II. Part A : Summary of Company Policies (2 pages)
A. Description/background of both Amazon.com and eBay companies
B. Focus main points from policy of Amazon
C. Focus main points from policy eBay
D. Compare and contrast the two companies
III. Part B: Critiques
A. Focuses on the issues discussed in part A
B. Issue 1: Outlines security issues as the problem
C. Issue 2: outlines some problems with the privacy policy. This includes the money
back guarantee issue
IV. Part C: Conclusion (1 Page)
A. Highlight main issues revealed: Security, Violation of rights, money back
guarantee
B. Specific recommendations to companies/consumers/government
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Ensure sites are secure
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Update the privacy policy
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