Despite a federal subpoena, Amazon refused to disclose the identities of 24,000 used book purchasers as demanded by federal prosecutors in an income tax evasion investigation of a used book seller. Think about it. Big Brother wants to know what your reading habits are and used a tax case to attempt to shred the First Amendment.

It gets worse. Even though the subpoena was withdrawn, the reason for the withdrawal is that the government found the customer information it needed on the seller’s computer. This means that if you bought from that seller a used book, the government knows what you bought even though it has absolutely nothing to do with tax fraud.

I’m not condoning tax evasion. That’s not the point.

The line has been crossed in e-commerce. If the government can seize records to identify your online book purchases, what not other purchases too? Say goodbye to personal privacy.

About the Author

With an advanced international law degree from Georgetown University and more than 14 years of real world legal experience, Attorney Mike Young shows entrepreneurs how to protect and grow their businesses online. He's the author of "Internet Marketing Legal Secrets Revealed," "How to Create Your Own Internet Business Without a Lawyer for Under $175," and the creator of Website Legal Forms Generator^TM. Not just a lawyer who focuses exclusively on Internet and marketing law, Mike’s been working with computers for more than 27 years (his first computer was an Atari 400 with 8 KiB RAM) and started representing Internet businesses back in 1996.