 eBay's New Updated User Agreement and Privacy Policy
Received this email:
"I'm writing to let you know that the eBay User Agreement and eBay Privacy Policy have been updated, effective immediately for users registering as of May 16, 2007, and on July 9, 2007, for current users.
The rules and dispute resolution policies you originally agreed to in the User Agreement have not changed in any substantive way. We've made some changes to this agreement to make sure our legal documents are consistent with the ways our sites and services are evolving and to better meet the needs of our user community. You'll notice some changes to our "Content License" and "Abusing eBay" sections to that effect.
The new Privacy Policy, like the old one, outlines the broad categories of information we collect from you, how we use this information, and what your options are with respect to the information we collect. You'll notice a few changes to the policy, which we've made to cover new programs and site safety projects we're putting in place.
Combating Fraud. We're increasing our efforts to combat fraud on the site with a variety of programs. For example, we've made some changes that allow us to address "Ask a Question" and "My Messages" spam and other malicious activities using our message systems. And we're making sure our disclosures about cooperating with law enforcement allow us to respond to increasingly sophisticated fraudsters and criminals.
Streamlining Services. We've heard your comments about how many steps it takes to complete a transaction or get customer support where multiple eBay companies are involved. So we've made some changes that will allow our Customer Support team to help you with questions that span our companies. And we're streamlining your use of the services provided by members of the eBay corporate family, so your experience across the eBay Inc. platform will be as seamless as we can make it. Some of our new programs also mean you'll see eBay services and content in a lot of places (not just on the site), so we've made some changes to reflect that.
Customizing Your eBay Experience. We're rolling out programs and working with partners that help make our sites and services, and some of the ads you see on the web, more relevant and useful to you. Naturally, because we're a transparent community, we'll identify the new ads served with this program and provide you with choices about them. Beginning in July, we'll make a new preference available in My eBay--named AdChoice--that lets you tell us whether you want us to use the information we have about you to customize the ads you see. You'll be able to sign in and change your advertising preferences in My eBay at any time. You'll also notice links on the ads we serve this way, so you'll know an ad is served with the new program and be able to set your preferences right from the ad.
We hope you'll agree that these changes will make the eBay sites and services work better for you. If you accept the new User Agreement and Privacy Policy, you don't need to take any action. If you do not wish to accept the new User Agreement or Privacy Policy, please refer to our Help pages for instructions on how to close your account.
Thank you for using eBay and we look forward to many more successful transactions!
Sincerely,
Scott Shipman
Counsel -- Global Privacy Practices
eBay Inc."
Does anyone know if the new privacy policy will have any effects on us? For example, the new "Streamlining Services" ("And we're streamlining your use of the services provided by members of the eBay corporate family, so your experience across the eBay Inc. platform will be as seamless as we can make it.") sounds like they may be able to link your eBay and Paypal accounts without you even linking them. Not sure on that, but I'm beginning to get worried.
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