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Amazon adjusts 'Circles'
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August 30, 1999: 9:14 a.m. ET
Online retailer allows customers to opt out of buying habit lists after complaints
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Online retailer Amazon.com made changes to its "Purchase Circles" program -- which shows buying habits of specific geographic and business groups -- after its customers worried about the repercussions toward their privacy on the Internet.
As a result, Amazon customers can opt not to have data related to them included in compiling results for any of groups, or purchase circles, of which they may be a part.
Amazon's Purchase Circles program, launched on Aug. 20, allows users to see sales data grouped by various criteria, such as by company, education, geographic area or organization.
For example, a purchase circle shows that Amazon.com customers in Hollywood have been snapping up "The Last Mogul: Lew Wasserman, MCA, and the Hidden History of Hollywood."
However, almost as soon as Amazon started the program, customers raised concerns about privacy issues.
While the purchase circles only showed anonymous aggregate buying data -- not individualized purchase information -- customers still worried that the data could lead to lessened privacy and unsolicited electronic advertising.
For its part, Amazon said the Purchase Circles program will go on, and noted that the circles contained groups of at least 200 users or more, so that user-specific data would be hard to come by from the circles.
Additionally, the company will continue offering "recommended lists" to users, which show Amazon users what other customers with similar demographic data or purchasing habits are buying.
Amazon shares closed Friday at 128-1/2, down 1/16.
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