Is there a better way to do seller verification? It does seem like an information leak to me. Craigslist and eBay don’t share my identification as a potential buyer. I don’t love the marketplace being tied to a social network, but it’s what many people are using these days.
the only people i would really not want to find out that i look at their profile are spammers and scammers (oh, and stalkers).
so both sides have a fair reason. so guess, if you can, choose the social network that works the way you prefer.
but that person had to put their info into the website, themselves, by choice, and then chose to let their privacy settings be such that others can view them.
if you pin your photo up to a cork board, don't be surprised if people see it
with more and more illegitimate tracking being done, informing those being tracked seems a benefit, not a drawback.
there is a difference however between one institution tracking who all the people are that i am looking at, vs the person i am looking at finding out for themselves who is looking at them.