Buy.com suffers a privacy breach Dave Hirschman - Staff Tuesday, October 17, 2000

A computer glitch allowed some online shoppers at Buy.com Inc. to see the names and addresses of others using United Parcel Service Inc.'s new Web-based merchandise return system.

Buy.com is the first Internet retailer to use the UPS online return service that allows customers to print shipping labels from home computers. The system is designed to speed returns and boost online shopping.

"Protecting customer information is of the utmost concern to us, and I don't want to downplay this incident," said Steve Holmes, a UPS spokesman. "But the information in question didn't contain any credit card numbers or personal financial data. It was basically the same as looking at a phone book, and we fixed the problem within a few hours."

Buy.com is based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., and sells a wide variety of products on the Internet.

The problem occurred late last week when Buy.com customers attempting to return merchandise via UPS discovered they could see other names and addresses by altering a few numbers on their computer screens.

UPS trumped rival FedEx Sept. 20 when the Sandy Springs shipping giant became the first to launch a comprehensive online returns policy. FedEx countered this month with similar technology.

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), October 17, 2000

Answers

Link: http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/epaper/editions/today/busine ss_93be2e8ce1bd424b00ed.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), October 17, 2000.