Many people received a notice in their email regarding Amazon's new privacy policy. Once I read this policy I was shocked and dismayed. So shocked that I've made a decision.

I know it was naive of me to think that the purchases that I've made online from anyone remain private. However, I would never have even considered that a company, especially a company like Amazon, would have the gall to think that it could do what it has announced it will do.

Amazon said that they own all of the information they have collected about me from their website. This includes my demographics, my purchases, my returns and presumably other things as well.

They have indicated that they have the right to sell this information.

And that is not only shocking, it is, in my opinion, such a betrayal that it defies the imagination. With all of the talk lately about privacy online and the consumer's concerns about how their data is used, what was Amazon thinking? Which orifice was their head in when they made this decision?

There is an implicit bond of trust between an individual and a company with which it does business. That is a bond of confidentiality. We go to the liquor store and don't consider that the owner might decide to publish our purchases in the newspaper. We buy magazines, newspapers, toys, jewelry, and many, many other things secure in the knowledge that the details of the transaction remain between us and the shopkeeper.

It's not that we really have anything to hide ... it's just that the details of what we purchase is personal. It's not anyone else's business.

Amazon has stated publicly that the data they collect from me, both explicitly (which I enter) and implicitly (by my purchasing habits) belongs to them.

I am telling Amazon in no unclear terms - you are wrong. Dead wrong. The information belongs to me (regardless of what your privacy policy says) and I refuse to do business with any company, organization or individual who does not respect that.

So my decision is simple. I will make my purchases elsewhere. I will give my hard earned money to a company which respects it's customers and understands that we value our privacy and our data. Amazon, you know where you an shove your data.

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets at http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to read over 1,000 completely FREE articles about how to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.