Stolen property is stolen property, whether it is a pirated cassette, downloaded video or a heisted car. A place of higher education must act if it thinks it has stolen property on the premises. The punishment for those apprehended seems very appropriate. The privacy argument is interesting. The answer seems to be no.
Privacy is a privilege that is earned.
You forfeit it if you engage in crime - and robbery, however trivial it might seem, is a crime. What you did not list was who pays for what. A majority of these affiliates belong to several programs, but are counted numerous times. Additionally, Be Free reports the number of affiliates for merchants using GeoCities Pages That Pay, which is a separate program that Be Free merchants do not have access to unless they pay GeoCities. Lastly, Be Free has only 117 merchants and LinkShare has 180.