Briefcase

New software offers updates on eBay items

Auction addicts will be able to monitor eBay bids and listings continuously using new software that features emerging feed technology called Really Simple Syndication.

RSS feeds tell you what’s newly generated by a Web site and send the content directly to your computer so you don’t have to go out and surf for new sports scores, stock quotes and news items.

The new software from Texas startup Pluck Corp. is a plug-in for Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer browser that provides regular updates on eBay items.

Pluck is releasing Auction Scout this week after months of beta testing by thousands of users.

The software is free, and Pluck hopes to customize ads to the feeds, so users get pitches related to the products they’re searching for. A consumer requesting alerts on second hand, ladies’ Rolex watches, for instance, might get an ad for a used jewelry brokerage company.

Technology

Review finds many firms share online users’ data

Be careful what personal information you give to corporate Web sites.

A review of the Internet privacy policies for the 100 biggest U.S. companies found that more than half share their users’ data with affiliates, subsidiaries or business partners without explicit permission.

The report, released this week by the Customer Respect Group, a Bellevue, Wash.-based research firm, found that 93 of the Fortune 100 companies posted privacy policies on their site, up from 90 last year.

Of those 93 companies, 30 percent said they use customer data only for the purpose for which it was provided or for internal marketing efforts. But 58 percent of the companies with privacy policies are not so guarded.

The privacy rankings were part of a broader study to analyze the customer-friendliness of Web sites.

The overall top performers were Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Bank of America Corp. and Medco Health Solutions Inc. The worst five: Sysco Corp., Pfizer Inc., Weyerhauser Co., Johnson Controls Inc. and Supervalu Inc.