Following up on a story MobyLives carried last week, Rebekah Denn, in a commentary at the Christian Science Monitor, asks, “Is it creepy that Amazon is tracking most-highlighted Kindle passages?” … but then she talks herself out of it:

Says Denn, “I do find the idea that such information is being tracked post-purchase a little odd, almost as if the supermarkets tracking my food-buying habits were also measuring whether I made omelets or scrambles once I got my eggs home. But I also admit to being curious about just what the information means. In my life, highlighting was restricted to academics, useful mainly for biology notes. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to underline a passage from a novel or a general-interest read.”

Others, however, have been a little less equivocal in their opinion — as a report at Gigaom.com notes, “Several users have expressed surprise at the move, calling it ‘scary,’ as well as ‘nasty’ and ‘spooky.’”

In another commentary at Bnet.com, Damon Brown agrees: “This bold, unnecessary move,” he says, “may erode consumer trust and hurt Kindle book sales, two things Amazon can’t afford as it wages war against Apple.”

What’s more, Brown says …

… Amazon is publishing what are, essentially, readers’ private thoughts. The digital issue is fairly clear. For instance, I’m reading one of my favorite books, Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws Of Power, and highlight a particularly nefarious passage, as there are a lot of them. The dog-eared copy on my bookshelf is safe and sound, only available to friends, family and, need be, authorities with my approval or a search warrant. The Kindle version, however, which I was actually considering buying because of the large paperback size, would instantly pass on any highlighted passages of interest to Amazon. I don’t have a dark past and, knock on wood, don’t have a dark future ahead, but any information I deem important in my book library can now be used as ammunition against me.

The most disturbing issue here isn’t Amazon’s data gathering and the public listing, or even the potential for the information to be passed to authorities deemed worthy by the company. No, the problem here is context — as in, there is none. Purchasing a landmark cultural title like William Powell‘s The Anarchist Cookbook is a soft coincidence, but someone highlighting specific passages found related to a suspected crime is a step towards intent.

How can a customer feel comfortable in the environment Amazon has created?

As a company, Amazon has no problem wielding its knowledge against consumers and suppliers. In the past it has:

• Remotely deleted books from paying customers’ libraries
• Removed entire publishing libraries from the website