The state of North Carolina wants details of the purchasing habits of Amazon users. Apparently it thinks that it has the right to tell the mail order outfit to hand over details of every transaction that the site has carried out in North Carolina.

Therefore, the taxmen of North Carolina have ordered Amazon.com to hand over detailed records including names and addresses of customers and information about exactly what they purchased. Amazon have rushed to the courts to demand protection saying that the demand violates the privacy and First Amendment rights of Amazon's customers. Completely out of the blue North Carolina's Department of Revenue had ordered the online retailer to provide full details on nearly 50 million purchases made by state residents between 2003 and 2010.

While it does seem like par for the course for a totalitarian regime which was founded by French backed terrorists, it is actually more an attempt by tax men to squeeze cash out Amazon. Apparently the State is fuming that since Amazon does not have offices or warehouses in North Carolina, it's not required to collect the customary 5.75 percent sales tax on shipments. However the law says that local residents have to pay any tax applies on anything "purchased or received" through the mail. The tax people have two game plans running.  The first is that Amazon will agree to collect the tax rather than having to fill all that annoying paperwork.  If that fails then it will send rude letters to all the names and addresses that Amazon supplies demanding money with menaces.

Amazon did provide the state tax collectors with anonymous information about which items were shipped to which zip codes. But North Carolina threatened to sue if the retailer did not also divulge the names and addresses linked to each order They hand-delivered a letter that amounted to an ultimatum: provide customer names by April 19 or face the consequences.