Is Amazon spying on you?

Have you purchased a Dell computer recently? If you did, then you may have also copped the Alexa Toolbar for “free”, as part of the pre-configured Internet Explorer. This seemingly handy little utility offers a number of features to allegedly “enhance your browsing experience” and looks similar to this:

Ok, perhaps their website can put it more elegantly:

The Alexa Toolbar is a free search and navigation companion that accompanies you as you surf, providing useful information about the sites you visit without interrupting your Web browsing.

• Get rid of those annoying popup ads.
• Search the Web and other resources directly from your toolbar.
• Learn about Web sites including traffic information and contact info.
• Surf more efficiently with Related Links for each page.
• Share opinions about sites with other users.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? But read their privacy page:

ALEXA’S TOOLBAR SERVICE COLLECTS AND STORES INFORMATION ABOUT THE WEB PAGES YOU VIEW, THE DATA YOU ENTER IN ONLINE FORMS AND SEARCH FIELDS, AND, WITH VERSIONS 5.0 AND HIGHER, THE PRODUCTS YOU PURCHASE ONLINE WHILE USING THE TOOLBAR SERVICE. ALTHOUGH ALEXA DOES NOT ATTEMPT TO ANALYZE WEB USAGE DATA TO DETERMINE THE IDENTITY OF ANY ALEXA USER, SOME INFORMATION COLLECTED BY THE TOOLBAR SERVICE IS PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE. ALEXA AGGREGATES AND ANALYZES THE INFORMATION IT COLLECTS TO IMPROVE ITS SERVICE AND TO PREPARE REPORTS ABOUT AGGREGATE WEB USAGE AND SHOPPING HABITS.

The bits in bold are my added emphasis.

Alexa is owned by Amazon, who have earned their high credibility. But would you trust them with collecting all your usernames and passwords? If not, The eTrust Spyware Encyclopedia offers uninstallation instructions.

Posted in Marketing, Security, Web by Ivan