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An Internet security expert has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Amazon.com, alleging that its Internet software subsidiary Alexa violates existing privacy laws.

The Alexa software keeps track of which sites a consumer visits and searches for similar patterns in those of other shoppers, compiling information in the aggregate to gauge shopping behavior and offering subscribers information on other sites they might like to visit.

Richard M. Smith, perhaps best known for his role in bringing closer scrutiny of the privacy policies of Internet sites belonging to Real Networks and Microsoft Corp., said in his complaint that the software often relays phone numbers, e-mail addresses and other personal information to other Web servers and then stores the information on its central databases.

Amazon.com is currently beta-testing a new product called zBubbles based on the Alexa technology. Smith said he used a special tracking software to monitor all network traffic between his computer and the Internet, and discovered that in many instances the zBubbles plug-in transmitted the full URL of the Web page a user is visiting, including the query string. Such strings can contain personal data and information about what shoppers are searching for, what products they are buying, and travel reservations.

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