Amazon surfs on the anti-terrorism law to impose its law

(B2 - exclusive) Is the American internet sales giant, Amazon using the law to collect personal data in an abusive way? We can ask ourselves the question.

According to our information, drawn from very good sources, the American company claiming "the European anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist package" asks its sellers to provide it not only with the identities of account managers but also of leaders and even members any association wishing to open an account on its online site. In short, enough to constitute a vast file of people.

We have requested information on this fact. The answer is relatively vague. We asked what was the applicable rule and article. " We are bound by European rules is justified, in a very laconic way, by Amazon.fr, which thus seems to be surfing on security terminologies (anti-terrorism law, anti-money laundering) to impose its own rules. By insisting a little, we got a second answer, as vague as the previous one, which refers to a general document which appears on the website of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and summarizes the anti-terrorist system without any reference to the obligation to which the manufacturer refers.

Similarly, the compatibility of these obligations with the rules on data protection (and the CNIL in France) has come up against a sidereal lack of response. The first request was met with no response. Then on our insistence, came a: “Write to the legal department” answers the assistance service of the firm, whose headquarters for Europe is based in Luxembourg, a small tax haven.

Comment: at a time when the fight against terrorism is becoming a priority, the compliance of Internet giants with European rules and a certain transparency in their practices, which sometimes borders on the abuse of a dominant position, would be desirable.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

(1) Note that the European package is primarily aimed at banks and financial institutions. A priori, Amazon does not come out of this category... or else that would imply that it is playing double-sided. On the one hand, supplier of an online sales site, and therefore collector of sales revenue for the benefit of sellers; on the other, user of this money for investments and others.