Amazon.com agreed this week to make changes to its privacy policy after coming under scrutiny from consumers and regulators who claimed that the e-commerce giant did not adequately protect customer data.
In a letter received by state regulators Tuesday, Amazon said that it plans to revamp its policy to provide heightened protections on consumer data, refrain from selling its customer database to marketers, and narrow its wording of exceptions.
Furthermore, the Seattle, Wash.-based company agreed to provide specific examples of how data is used and what data it gathers from customers.
Amazon said that it will be implementing changes to the policy over the next several weeks.
Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, one of the state regulators leading the case to curtail Amazon's current policy, said in a statement this week that he was pleased with the agreement.
"It's extremely important for all companies - especially Internet sellers - to handle customer data carefully and confidentially," Reilly said.
When Amazon released the current version of its privacy policy in 2000, customers began reporting concerns which subsequently caught the attention of state regulators. Since then, a coalition of states has been lobbying Amazon to make crucial changes to its policy.
News source: InfoWorld - Amazon agrees to change privacy policy
In a letter received by state regulators Tuesday, Amazon said that it plans to revamp its policy to provide heightened protections on consumer data, refrain from selling its customer database to marketers, and narrow its wording of exceptions.
Furthermore, the Seattle, Wash.-based company agreed to provide specific examples of how data is used and what data it gathers from customers.
Amazon said that it will be implementing changes to the policy over the next several weeks.
Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, one of the state regulators leading the case to curtail Amazon's current policy, said in a statement this week that he was pleased with the agreement.
"It's extremely important for all companies - especially Internet sellers - to handle customer data carefully and confidentially," Reilly said.
When Amazon released the current version of its privacy policy in 2000, customers began reporting concerns which subsequently caught the attention of state regulators. Since then, a coalition of states has been lobbying Amazon to make crucial changes to its policy.
News source: InfoWorld - Amazon agrees to change privacy policy
"Our employees are our most valuable asset, our best competitive advantage and our most important long-term investment," said Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia's chief executive officer.
Employees holding options priced at $27 and above will be eligible for the offer, which expires Oct. 24. Neither Huang, nor Nvidia's chief financial officer, nor the company's board of directors will be allowed to swap their options.
Nvidia said it would distribute 4.8 million shares if all 20.6 million eligible stock options are exchanged.
While the offer may please Nvidia's 1,400 employees, it's unlikely to go over well with stockholders who have suffered paper losses totaling nearly $9 billion so far this year.
"No matter how they might try to justify it, shareholders just got screwed," said industry analyst David Wu of Wedbush Morgan Securities. "It's bad enough that they are doing this once. They better not do it again."
Nvidia becomes the second prominent Silicon Valley company in two months to bid for its employees' worthless stock options.
Software maker Siebel Systems of San Mateo last month offered to pay $1.85 per share for up to 32 million stock options priced at $40 and above. Siebel's shares have fallen 26% since it announced its buyback program.
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