Privacy Fail

[elz]

Etsy users irked after buyers, purchases exposed to the worldI've bought things from Etsy, and I had no idea they had done this. Nothing I've ever bought there is remotely embarrassing, but jeez - who expects to have to opt out of "show my purchases to everyone" on an online store

Comments

[50mm]

Hi! Saw this on friendsfriends, and had to drop a note to say thank you! I've since gone into my Etsy profile and made everything private. Sheesh, Etsy...

[elz]

*waves* The Etsy CEO commented to say that it only affects purchases where you've left or received feedback, but other people pointed out that you can't control when a seller leaves you feedback for paying promptly, so I remain unconvinced:

http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2011/03/etsy-users-irked-after-buyers-purchases-exposed-to-the-world.ars?comments=1#comment-21429759

[50mm]

Wow, the more I read the less I think of the CEO guy. He just does not get it, at all, and seems to not get what is actually searchable on his own site--according to other commenters, email address and name are. Yikes!

[fenchurche]

Ah, thanks for the heads up! Not that I've bought anything embarrassing... but I did just buy something for my husband for his birthday! And besides, what I buy really isn't anyone else's business.

[_jems_]

That's weird that the article you linked says that there was no warning because I actually did get an email from Etsy on Jan 31 outlining exactly this (and changed my settings the next time I visited the site). I'm not sure I realized how extensive the searchability was because I don't think I realized it connected my email to my name, but since I use a modified version of my email, I'm not sure anyone could have found me anyway (and I've now removed all searchability, which I hadn't at first).