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I like to cook. This Christmas, I found an amazing bargain at my local Williams-Sonoma on a stainless steel sauce pan from All-Clad. At around 70% off the regular price, I couldn't resist.

All-Clad makes good products, and they come with a lifetime warranty. I noticed that they now allow you to register your product online. So, I went to their website and clicked on the registration link.

The form they presented struck me as very odd. Nowhere on it do they ask what product I purchased, nor where nor when I purchased it. In fact, it appears that they are only interested in collecting my personal information. To what end, I wonder?

Anyway, it prompted me to write them the following email. Too bad that personal information harvesting isn't limited to spammers mining the WHOIS data.

To: info@allclad.com
Subject: Your "warranty registration"

Sirs:

I went to register my All-Clad product online and noticed the following on your website:

By submitting the information below, we can confirm the date of your purchase, which helps us expedite your warranty inquiries. The additional information you provide will help us to develop new and exciting products for your future enjoyment. Thanks again from all of us at All-Clad!

However, the only required information is my name, address and phone number. Nowhere do you require the make or model of the product I purchased, nor the date of purchase.

How do you propose to "confirm the date of my purchase"? Why not just admit that the purpose of registering my All-Clad product is to collect information for marketing purposes?

Rest assured, I will continue to enjoy using my All-Clad products. I will also be sure to take you up on the lifetime warranty, should I ever need to. However, I will not be giving you my personal information so that you can use it for marketing purposes.

Sigh.