Etsy.com has some amazingly talented artisans, which makes it all the more disturbing to see this talented group get trojaned. Okay, Etsy isn't exactly a trojan, but it sure is acting like one. Last week, Etsy.com rolled out changes that exposes the private information and purchase history of every Etsy member. So if you've ever so much as purchased something on Etsy.com, that purchase - and your entire Etsy account - can now be found via any search engine on the Web.
So back to the trojan connection: a trojan is often described as software that appears to be legitimate but instead does something malicious such as harvesting email addresses and sending personal information to attackers. Etsy can be described as a website that claims to be legitimate but is harvesting email addresses and exposing personal information to the world.
Ironically, the Etsy.com privacy policy continues to display the TrustE logo, indication that these "safe harbor" logo programs may not be a useful indicator of anything other than the ability to display an image. At least in this case, it certainly isn't any indication of safety or privacy for the users. Caveat emptor.
March 15 update: Adam Brown, the press manager at Etsy, sent the following email today:
"I noticed your story about the privacy problem at Etsy. I wanted to let you know that we have responded to this issue by making all purchase and feedback on Etsy private by default. You can read more about it in our blog post. I plan to leave a comment in your story shortly, with a link to our blog post."
I personally think their blog post is more than a bit disingenuous, but the important thing is the privacy issues are being addressed.
i think viruses and trojans actually have to infect you computer first then harvest it to be labeled as such.
i don’t know about the 10,000 members for the entire database.
etsy revenues seems kind of high for just that number (over $300 million for 2010).
that means each member $30,000 on the site in 2010.
maybe i’m not understanding it… and you mean something else by member base.
WTF are you on about? The Etsy user base is much, much, MUCH more than 10,000. There are over 301,000 shops that are active right now. ( http://www.etsy.com/shops_sellers.php ) That doesn’t include buyer-only accounts, which has to be at least 2-3 times that, probably more. Etsy reported something like 2 million sales last month, I doubt every user is buying 20 items each month.
Bad Google search. My bad (not theirs). Thanks for the heads’ up.
Wow – Way to torpedo the businesses of all the artisans legitimately using Etsy.com as a selling venue.
Mary– you are misusing the word trojan intentionally to stir up controversy and slander Etsy and its many artisans. Is there something you are not telling us about a personal grudge with Etsy perhaps?
I will be reporting you to About.com, because this article clearly violates the Code of Ethics that states articles must be objective. And I’ve saved a copy so it cannot be altered and claimed later that you stated differently.
Expect other Etsians to do the same.
I demand a formal apology for this slander.
I am glad someone is finally calling Etsy out for their privacy nightmare. They make it way too easy to link people’s real names to purchases. People are in the Etsy forums daily crying for Etsy to do something about the privacy issues. Like Etsy cares what its members think.
Fight the good fight, About.com. Expose Etsy’s privacy issues for the world to know!!!
I am appalled at this article. did you not even do any real research? there is currently 301339 sellers, and very few of them will believe this garbage.
as EF G says
Wow – Way to torpedo the businesses of all the artisans legitimately using Etsy.com as a selling venue.
yes, there are a few potential problems with privacy and search. but no more than you take everyday when venturing onto the internet. I bet there’s more info about you than there is about me out there. and I’m everywhere!
think a little bit before you write your next article that could potentially hurt some people’s revenue.
Etsy has privacy issues but they are NOT a trojan, they do NOT harvest emails for malicous reasons like you insinuate, they do NOT collect private information to release it publically!
Way to distort the truth. The TRUTH is that if you CHOOSE to enter your real name, it can be searchable. Which isn’t great, but you still have to be a moron to choose to enter it in the first place. You also have the option to make your purchases private.
Regardless of Etsy’s privacy issues, this article is slanderous and claims that Etsy is a trojan, a malicious program set up to steal personal information for purposes of selling or identity theft… which it is NOT.
It is a handmade marketplace and is completely legitimate.
This is an absurd and outright malicious article and I hope that Etsy.com contacts you for legal compensation regarding the damage you are attempting to do to them & their sellers.
I am reporting you to every email contact I can find for About.com
And I’ve saved what you’ve written in case you try to change it after the fact.
Stop flagging this guy, everything he’s saying is true. And yes, it will reflect poorly on any sellers who choose to stand by Etsy’s abominable and illegal practices. Or do you think innocent shoppers should be taken advantage of just so you can make a few more bucks this month?
People have a right to know what is being done to their reputation by Etsy.
this article is libelous
yes etsy is having some changes to their privacy policy which arent in the best interest of a buyer.
but they dont harvest emails or implant trojans and viruses on your computer.
this article is written with intent to fear monger buyer and sellers into purchasing a virus protection product.
lawyer up my friend
It is not paranoia if it is true….Etsy buyers go in to your accts and remove your name….
trojan maybe harsh BUT..Etsy admin has done some things that are not prudent and they are not being up front about it.
You couldn’t come up with an actual anti-virus article so you attack Etsy? Grow up and get serious.
The catchy title here seems to be the thing most upsetting to the Cupcake Patrol. ?
I find it interesting that even this site has a function to block personal information before you post.
Love Etsy , go right ahead. Loving Etsy doesn’t make you any safer, richer, or smarter. Slowly but surely more Etsy sellers are leaving the site- for various reasons- Coralgate, broken search,death of the forums, privacy issues, re-sellers, faux vintage, no customer service, teams, real forum bullies supported by Admin, circles, social networking, unannounced site changes, opting in defaults, lack of adertising, low views, the re-new sham, etc.
To Etsy Corp. your “love” will keep you no safer than someone else’s “hate”. My wish is that you “lovers” also keep yourselves informed.
You’re doing a disservice here to sellers on Etsy, even though you started your article by stating that there are a lot of talented people on Etsy.
And as a writer, I feel you’re using sensationalist tactics by using the word “Trojan” in your title and attention-getting opening lines. Even though you say “Okay, Etsy isn’t exactly a Trojan…” the damage is already done.
People will now associate Etsy with Trojan viruses (which seem to be your professional specialty).
A little detail you left out is that people’s real names are only available on Etsy if users choose to enter them. Period.
I can only assume you’re trying to build your own resume with your writing on About.com, and this seemed like a good idea.
As a seller on Etsy, I don’t appreciate it.
Here’s a perfect example:
Read for yourself what happens regularly on Etsy when someone questions the actions of Etsy.
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/6818801/
How many people KNOW that it is optional when they sign up?
Bet hardly anyone…
I think Etsy is doing more to ruin your business that the author of this article.
None of us like the privacy issues that Etsy has, but that does not make this article OK!!
It is wrong to outright LIE to your readers and tell them Etsy is like a Trojan.
“The Etsy Trojan”? Really? Shame on you, Mary. You should know better than that. And if you really are ignorant, there’s this thing called Google– look up the definition of “trojan”.
Hopefully About.com will remove this piece of garbage from their website.
Thanks, as if Etsy sellers didn’t have enough to worry about with Etsy’s boneheaded privacy issues, now we have some reporter trying to slander the place that we try to make our livings from.
I am an artisan on Etsy and am appalled by their lack of judgement in the privacy issues, but in no way agree with your “trojan” insinuations. Shame on you, you must need a good story really badly…
There are a lot of Etsy sellers just trying to figure out at this point if we will have a surviving business when this whole privacy thing is resolved. Thanks for taking your cheap shot and making it even worse.
Can you please provide the sources used to establish this article? http://antivirus.about.com/b/2011/03/14/the-etsy-trojan.htm
I see no proof that etsy is a virus other than one opinion. I did not know About published opinions. After reading your ethics section, I would feel this article violates your own policies.
All the comments left here by sellers defending Etsy’s abominable practices won’t change the facts. Etsy has completely disregarded not only legalities but ethics and integrity along with the concerns of many sellers who have moved their shops off of Etsy.
Fixing these things after the fact won’t bring back buyers, and jumping all over the author of this article won’t make Etsy behave less like a trojan virus.
It’s all over the internet, it was an end-run around privacy. People are freaking out. Buyers’ PERSONAL info and what they bought is searchable on google.
http://gizmodo.com/#!5782146/etsy-privacy-catastrophe-reveals-users-full-names-dildo-preferences-and-other-less-embarrassing-purchase-information
ETSY may not be guilty of infecting your computer with Trojans….however, they are guilty of harvesting emails and other personal information. Read their TOU, People!
You would think that the major corporation that owns ETSY would be happy with the amount of money they receive from listing fees and selling fees. Charging for listing and then charging again when you sell the item you listed is nothing but Corporate Greed. Now they are selling your email addresses and other information.
I really don’t understand why someone who promotes handmade would want to line the pockets of a major corporation such as this one.
ETSY is the new EBAY. If you want to sell your handmade items, choose a venue that really does support Handmade. There are plenty of them out there. Stop Making Corporate America richer at the cost of the handmade community members! Don’t Buy or sell at ETSY!
Lol!!!!
You people are so literal. A ‘Trojan’ refers to the Trojan Horse the Greeks built to hide soldiers in so when the Trojans brought their ‘trophy’ through their gates, the Greeks snuck out, let the rest of their army in and overthrew Troy.
It doesn’t necessarily mean a computer virus, but can be used as any trick or strategy used to lure someone in in order to invade their space,
And that is exactly what Etsy has done, With a deceptive request for me to ‘find my friends on facebook’ by clicking a button. What most didn’t know was Etsy was privy to all your facebook info now. I was one of the lucky ones, none of the ‘friends’ they had pictures of were real people, so I wasn’t enticed to click, but others had photos of their facebook friends on that page and couldn’t figure out how Etsy already knew that,
Same with ‘find your friends on Etsy’ where you could upload your email address book and find people that you already know and presumably who know you (since you emailed them) can ‘find’ you.
Same with entering your full, real name. nowhere are you given an option to not have it displayed, nor are you able to remove it yourself.
Etsy may not be a computer virus, but it is most certainly a Trojan,
If anyone needs to ‘lawyer up’ it’s Etsy! Funny how Etsy doesn’t listen to its users but gets all up in the air and defensive when the press gets a hold of their CRAP.
OK, for all of you defending Etsy, in case you don’t know, what the author has done is to use a “metaphor” (look it up, I know it’s a big word) to describe what Etsy has done and it’s not far from the truth. Etsy has used a bait and switch to lure in buyers and sellers under false pretenses, and then changed the game plan.
These privacy issues are REAL. Perhaps Etsy itself is not going in and mining this private data, but other people might and Etsy has made it easy for them to do it. A buyer should not have to assume that Etsy will make his/her information publicly available especially when that was NOT disclosed to them when they signed up. How many buyers do you think would hit that button if Etsy had a disclaimer that told them that all of their private information would be available to view by anyone with an Etsy account?
The worst part about this is that all of this bad publicity could have been avoided if Etsy had taken it’s sellers concerns seriously. There were many many forum posts about the possible misuse of opening up this data but no one cared. Etsy bullishly forged ahead with no regard whatsoever to the concerns of it’s sellers (revenue generators!) They thumbed their noses and treated the sellers like errant children instead of the savvy and successful business people they are.
Instead of listening to what they had to say, they just got rid of them by dismantling the forums, muting people and closing shops. Now they are getting bad press for their actions and somehow it’s the sellers fault!! Are you kidding?
I’m glad this information is finally getting wider audience because maybe now Etsy will finally listen. They didn’t take the sellers seriously but maybe if it impacts their bottom line or their ability to score that big investor or buyout perhaps they will take notice.