Forrester has been in the news this week a couple of times, first in an onslaught of media coverage of a report slamming iTunes sales and then later this week because of suspicions about the accuracy and validity of their analysis.

I’m quite surprised that another more important, more frightening story hasn’t come out in the wake of the Forrester report.  According to the company itself, "Forrester analyzed nearly 2 million credit and debit card transactions for the 27-month period from April 2004 through June 2006."  How in the world did Forrester get its hands on 2 million credit card and debit card transactions with enough detail to see a) that iTunes purchases were made, b) how much was spent per transaction, and c) who made the purchase (to determine purchase recency and frequency)?!?

Am I the only one who finds it incredibly scary that when a research firm can’t get sales information from a company who is protecting the privacy of its customers, the research firm just grabs a bunch of confidential financial data to do its own analysis?  If they know how much we spent on iTunes downloads, what spending data will they report on next?  Sex toys?  HIV treatments? 

How do you feel about the fact that it’s that easy for a company like Forrester to get its hands on your purchasing behavior?