The ACLU objects to North Carolina’s Department of Revenue for attempting to snoop too deeply into Amazon.com’s customer records. The snooping was in order to enforce the sales tax on internet purchases, but the ACLU and Amazon.com argue that the retailer shouldn’t have to hand over the names of its North Carolinian customers along with detailed product descriptions.
The Charlotte Observer reports:
The ACLU, a public interest group, raised the privacy issue in Amazon.com’s federal lawsuit against the N.C. Department of Revenue, which was filed in Seattle. The retailer is challenging the state’s attempt to force the company to turn over customer information.
Amazon has provided the state with product descriptions, but is balking on revealing customers’ names.
“These product descriptions reveal highly expressive and private information about consumer choices: for example, whether a person has received a book on alcoholism or home workshop weaponry, a movie like ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ or ‘sexual wellness’ items such as sex toys,” the ACLU said in a letter to the Revenue Department in May.
The ACLU is not taking a stand on the state’s attempt to tax online retailers; instead, it is challenging the nature of personal information the Revenue Department is requesting.
