Amazon Reports User Data Snafu as Holiday Shopping Heats Up

Amazon Reports User Data Snafu as Holiday Shopping Heats Up
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Amazon said it mistakenly shared customer data with undisclosed parties, a privacy misstep by the world’s biggest online retailer heading into its busiest time of year, according to Bloomberg.

The company emailed an undisclosed number of customers to report that their emails and names were inadvertently shared due to a technical error that has since been fixed. It also told customers that changing passwords wasn’t necessary. “We have fixed the issue and informed customers who may have been impacted," Amazon said in an email, declining to provide further details on who received the private information.

Online holiday sales will top $124 billion this year, up 14.8 percent from a year earlier, according to Adobe. Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be among the biggest spending days in the U.S.