It has been brought to my attention that Cafepress, which we currently use to sell Wikimedia Merchandise at http://www.cafepress.com/wikipedia , has some privacy issues. Specifically, they have a "web pixel clause":
Pixels. Pixels, also called clear GIFs, are invisible files on Web pages that you visit. If you visit a page on the Site that contains a Pixel, the Pixel communicates with your computer to determine, among other things, whether you have been to that page before or viewed a particular advertisement. We may use Pixels to serve advertising, enhance email advertising and track usage of the Site.
And a somewhat weak personal data disclosure policy:
we may disclose your Personally Identifiable Information when we believe in good faith that it is required by any applicable law or legal process, or if we believe we need to disclose it to protect or enforce our rights *or the rights of our members, users, or other third parties.*
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/help/privacy.aspx
I'd like to solicit feedback on - whether these privacy issues are acceptable from the point of view of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. - whether any alternatives exist (i.e. merchandise-on-demand of similar quality).
My point of view, right now, is that if no alternatives exist, we should continue using Cafepress, and add a link to the Wikipedia article about them on the page, where the privacy issues can then discussed from a neutral point of view. However, I'd like to bring this out into the open first. (Incidentally, I'll probably have to start that article as it doesn't seem to exist yet.)
Regards,
Erik