This article is more than 1 year old

Victoria's Secret to pay up for poor panty privacy

Spitzer gets down and dirty

New York Attorney General Eliot Sptizer has sorted through Victoria Secret's dirty undies and is set to doll out a $50,000 fine to the company for online privacy violations.

Spitzer has spent several months looking into charges that Victoria's Secret Web site allowed shoppers to take a peek at other customers' orders. An apparent flaw in the lingerie giant's ordering system made it possible to tweak customer ID numbers and see what kind of knickers people were buying - a clear violation of Victoria's Secret online privacy policy. The New York AG and Victoria's Secret reached a settlement on Monday, according to the New York Times.

Jason Sudowski of Niantic, Connecticut was looking for a nice matching bra and undies set for his loved one when he discovered the panty raid flaw. He reported the incident to a customer service representative that dutifully told him to shove off.

"I talked to somebody who said, 'Well, there's no credit card numbers being displayed, so what's the big deal?'" he told the New York Times. "I said, 'I don't think Tammy so-and-so from Ridgefield, Connecticut, would want me to know that she ordered this or that.'"

Sudowski then told a reporter about the problem, and one story later, Victoria's Secret fixed the Web site.

Spitzer hit Victoria's Secret with the usual charges of bad business practices, false advertising and the like. Victoria's Secret refused to admit any wrongdoing but will pay the $50,000 fine.

The AG determined that three people had their undies exposed to the public, and they will be informed of this. They will also receive a full refund as compensation for having their g-strings paraded about the Internet, according to the Times.

Another 559 customers who could have their sundries up for public consumption will be notified. Twenty-six New York residents - Spitzer's home state - will be awarded gift certificates.

Spitzer has long called for more transparency from corporate America, and we think he'll have a hard time topping this panty crawl. ®

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