Like many shoppers, I love a good bargain. I especially love convenience, which is why I started online shopping. But would you sacrifice privacy for convenience?
We trust in websites to keep our personal information private. However, people are concerned about cosmetics website Strawberrynet and a possible information leak.
Strawberrynet has this feature that lets a customer check out by typing in their email address. If they type in an email address that’s already in the company’s database, the personal information attached to that email (phone, address), is revealed on the site.
So yes, this is pretty convenient, but what about a traditional password? It doesn’t take much longer to type in your password on the site to access your account. If a stranger or a hacker gets a hold of your email address and knows that you have an account on this site, they could just plug in the email and get your phone number and address with just a click.
I don’t know about you, but to me, that sounds pretty unsafe. It’s not a way to protect personal information whatsoever. Sure, your credit card information may not be saved to the site, but still.
The company responded to customers’ concerns with a tweet:
We hear your concerns about data leakage. To address this, we welcome you to email info@strawberrynet.com to request your address be hidden.
— Strawberrynet (@Strawberrynet) August 19, 2016
OK, so I’m glad the company can hide a customer’s address from the public, but shouldn’t everyone’s personal info be hidden in the first place?
Well, apparently customers prefer to shop on the site without logging in using a password. I get it, there are tons of passwords you have to remember for so many different sites. It’s a hassle. But wouldn’t it be more of a hassle if someone got to your personal information?
As much as I love a good beauty bargain, I don’t think risking my personal information being shared to the world is worth it.