I Know What You Bought Last Summer: Investigating User Data Leakage in E-Commerce Platforms

In the digital age, e-commerce has transformed the way consumers shop, offering convenience and accessibility. Nevertheless, concerns about the privacy and security of personal information shared on these platforms have risen. In this work, we investigate user privacy violations, noting the risks of data leakage to third-party entities. Utilizing a semi-automated data collection approach, we examine a selection of popular online e-shops, revealing that nearly 30% of them violate user privacy by disclosing personal information to third parties. We unveil how minimal user interaction across multiple e-commerce websites can result in a comprehensive privacy breach. We observe significant data-sharing patterns with platforms like Facebook, which use personal information to build user profiles and link them to social media accounts.