Amazon.com censured by privacy advocates

Two groups advocating greater personal privacy severed ties to Amazon.com Inc. (amzn) on Wednesday after the online retailer revamped its privacy policy last week to allow the transfer of customers' data in the event that the company is sold.

Both the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Junkbuster Corp. released statements that stressed their disapproval of the move and terminated their involvement in the Amazon.com affiliate program. "Because Amazon announced that it could no longer guarantee that it would not disclose customer information to third parties, and in the absence of legal or technical means to assure privacy for Amazon customers, we have decided that we can no longer continue our relationship with Amazon," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC in a letter that went out over the Internet Wednesday. Full story. -- Robert Lemos, ZDNet News