Walt Disney Co., the majority owner of bankrupt Internet retailer Toysmart.com Inc., offered Tuesday to buy the company’s customer lists to ensure consumer privacy, according to news reports.
No further details were available.
Toysmart.com began seeking bids for assets including its customer file in May. The Federal Trade Commission Monday filed a complaint against Toysmart.com seeking to prevent the sale of personal information collected on the company Web site despite its privacy guarantee ” never” to share that information. Toysmart and the FTC are in talks to negotiate a settlement.
At its Web site, the retailer of children’s toys collected detailed personal information about its visitors including billing information and family profiles that include the names and birth dates of children. The once popular site attracted 1.6 million visitors in December 1999, according to Media Metrix.
Toysmart.com fired 170 workers at its headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, a retail store and distribution center, when it halted operations in May, the report said.
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