tangor - 6:19 am on Apr 21, 2010 (gmt 0)

From that same article above:

The North Carolina Department of Revenue (DOR) is investigating Amazon for compliance with sales tax law. All well and good, says Amazon in its filing in the US District Court of the Western District of Washington, but: "All [the DOR] needs to know is what items Amazon sold to North Carolina customers and what they paid, and Amazon has already provided that information to the DOR," the filing reads. But the DOR wants more - it wants to know exactly what books and video individual North Carolinians bought. And Amazon isn't buying it: "If Amazon is forced to comply with this demand, the disclosure will invade the privacy and violate the First Amendment rights of Amazon and its customers on a massive scale." Sales records are one thing, says Amazon. "But the DOR has no business seeking to uncover the identity of Amazon's customers who purchased expressive content, which makes up the majority of the nearly 50 million products sold to North Carolina residents during the audit period, let alone associating customers' names and addresses with the specific books, music, and video content that they have purchased during the past seven years."

(emphasis mine)
We're on the same page, I believe. I have produced "total sales" for venues but I have never revealed BUYERS. And I never will. I'd stop doing business in that locale demanding same before gving up that info.

Not that I sell dodgy stuff, but nobody needs to know what kinds of comic books or adventure romance literature somebody buys. Or kneesocks, canteens, or live oak seedlings.