Privacy advocates are concerned over indications eBay Australia is likely to follow in the footsteps of its US counterpart and launch an authentication system to track sellers.

-One of the problems with modern technology is that publicly available data is able to be compiled and cross referenced," Cameron Murphy, president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties told ZDNet Australia. -There's an easy capacity for this information to be misused."

The authentication system uses a two-tier strategy depending on the price of goods. New sellers of lower price goods will have their registration details compared with those in the phone book, while sellers of more expensive goods will be asked to answer -out of wallet" questions, such as their monthly mortgage payment.

Murphy doesn't believe this will stem the instances of identity-theft which plague online sites, and points to loopholes in Australian legislation that could allow eBay to misuse or pass on the information it collects.

-What needs to happen is they need people's consent before they ask for any information, and they need to guarantee the information they collect will only be used for the stated intent," he said.

Kaye Dewar, community development director of eBay Australia, recognised the privacy concerns raised. -The company's privacy policy as to how the information is going to be used should always be clear, and up to date with legislation," she said. -That is why we have our policy clear on the site and people see it when they register."

-People want the site to be as secure as possible, and they need to be aware of the mechanisms to achieve that," she said. -It should always be clear how that is achieved, so it becomes the person's choice."

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