Originally Posted by cybertonic
They did not say ANYTHING except the fact sellers are protected under their privacy policy.
I'm not sure what they are thinking about (if at all) at SEDO when they present a response like that.
Clearly, privacy for a valid transaction makes sense, however, when fraud is involved (as is apparently the case here), it would seem the privacy dodge has little relevance.
Let's put it another way, here is a hypothetical scenario:
1) I host a site where people can post their comments about companies anonymously.
2) We know the real identity or at least have clues as to who post these comments.
3) We further maintain a privacy policy which keeps our poster information entirely secure.
3) Someone posts a threat like, "we plan to steal money from SEDO by draining their bank account".
4) They go through and make good on their threat and steal the money.
5) Sedo approaches us for more information.
When we send them such a note as in the quote above, do you think:
A) They will say to themselves, "oh, yes privacy is most important, our money is gone, but the safety of the thief is protected, we sure get that".
B) Wow, what a great site to uphold their privacy policy
C) Gee, that's a problem, let's call the company which runs the site to try to find out how we can work together to clean up the Internet and make things better for all participants.
D) Call the *)($*#@$ lawyer now, get a *()(&$#! court order to release that data immediately!
I would hope it would be C, but I would guess D would be most likely.
Privacy policies *are* important for valid transactions, however when privacy policies protect parties clearly engaging in fraud, how can any reasonable person look at the situation as much less than the party enforcing the privacy policy as being much less than a knowing accessory to that fraud?
I think this goes well beyond the scope of good customer service and right to the heart of serious Internet trust issues that must be addressed by those who are representing themselves as trusted platform venues for engaging in good business online.
cybertonic, the quoted answer they sent you is really no answer at all.
-Commerce
