LIVE FROM WASHINGTON, DC: Sharp Exchanges at Data-Merger Panel
Online retail Amazon.com, which did not have representatives on panels at the Federal Trade Commission’s information marketplace workshop on Tuesday, nonetheless brought about some of the afternoon’s sharpest exchanges.
During a session titled, “How Do Merger and Exchange Affect Consumers and Businesses,” panelist Jason Catlett, president of consumer privacy advocacy organization Junkbusters Corp., sparred with fellow panelist Rick Lane over the benefits and drawbacks of personally identifiable information.
Catlett said that in some cases, such as credit card solicitations, personal information created confidence among marketers that increased the total amount of mail in the system. But the resulting increase in mail caused overall response rates to drop–and consumer irritation to rise.
Lane, director of eCommerce and Internet Technology at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, argued for market forces instead of relying on regulation, responding: “There are more mailings done, because there are more people in the United States and more businesses. It’s called economic growth. I thought it was a good thing.”
Catlett brought up what he called the “dynamic pricing” tests that were done by Amazon.com last year. Web surfers were offered different prices on identical goods on Amazon.com. Catlett implied that personally identifiable information could be used in this service.
“Amazon said it would never base price points on demographic information, but they didn’t say they wouldn’t base it on clickstream data,” Catlett said. “I would like to see a clarification from them.”
Lane responded that in the case of Amazon, the marketplace reacted very quickly. “Consumers weren’t ready for what appeared to be differentiated prices, didn’t appreciate [it], and it stopped,” Lane said. “There are market forces out there.”
The fireworks weren’t over, however. During a question-and-answer period, audience member Paul Misener, vice president of global public policy for Amazon.com, objected to Catlett’s earlier reference to the charges of dynamic pricing, in which consumers allegedly were shown different prices for books based on profiling on the Amazon.com site.
“Amazon did not engage in dynamic pricing,” Misener said. We never have, and we promised never to.”
“It was not a privacy issue. Full stop,” Misener said. “We served up different prices based on when people logged on. We regretted doing it. We refunded all of our customers the difference to the very lowest price.”
When Catlett replied: “I don’t think I said they did, I think I said they were accused of doing it,” many in the 80-person audience groaned audibly.
