Online payment company settles privacy charges

11 Mar 2005

In America this week, an Internet payment company has agreed to return the money it earned from selling a list of nearly 1 million customers to telemarketers and junk mailers without permission.

Utah-based CartManager International sold the names, addresses, phone numbers and purchase history of consumers who used its "shopping cart" software to make purchases on thousands of Websites, the Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday.

Many of those Websites told visitors that any personal information they provided would be kept private, the FTC said.

CartManager said that it would retain "full ownership" of consumer data, but buried that notice in a lengthy online agreement and did not explain how it intended to use that information.

CartManager parent company Vision I Properties LLC agreed to pay back the $9,000 it earned from the sale of customer data and clearly disclose when it intends to sell customer data in the future. The company faces increased penalties if does not abide by the agreement.

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