Online Stores Will Sell Your Info
May 13th, 2008One of my most favorite section in any magazine is the Q&A. Flipping through this month’s PC Magazine, I was rather shocked and dissapointed at the answer Neil J. Rubenking - the software expert at PCMag.
Let’s see what ruffled my feathers. A reader asked them what’s the truth to the rumors about using numbers in email addresses to help reduce spam.
The answer given (in a nutshell), was to simply be more careful with your email address. That I have no trouble whatsoever with. Because that’s pretty much the best you can do.
But what is in the long explanation to get to this very quick and simple answer is what I want to bring up.
“When you buy something at a small, lesser-known online store, there’s a decent chance they will sell your address to spammers.” and, “Sign up for a newsletter? Your address could certainly get sold.”
What? So, this guy just branded you and I as likely shady business people. Why? Is it because all small online businesses are automatically scammers and sell outs? This I know for fact is totally untrue. Is there any study? I want to see figures. Heck, even if I did see figures, I’m not so sure they weren’t done to support the interests of some other organization.
But the article does not stop there. Rubenking writes, “Even if it’s a big, reputable store that gets your cash, the store’s records could still be stolen or leaked.” Ah! I see. As a subscriber to PCMag, I can expect my information to be stolen or leaked some time. Thanks guys.
Related Entries
- The Slippery Slide Design
- Guaranteed Business Showstopper
- HelpDesk: Selling And Delivering Digital Products Automatically
- Chitika, Chingtika
- Create A Better PDF eBook
How To Use Technology To Improve Your Marketing And Productivity
May 13th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
That’s quite an assumption. Morals and ethics aside, I don’t think most smaller online retailers are aware of or would know how to get into the lucrative opportunity of selling personal information. It’s the big companies that know and do this, unless they explicitly state they don’t.
For the record Lynette, I don’t think it’s illegal to do so. I think it becomes illegal if you state you don’t, but do anyway.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Yeah good catch Alice. I was really struggling to express my thoughts on this one. But yeah. I don’t know how to sell personal info. Although it is something that I know is possible and there are people teaching this and can avail myself of this info, just not me.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:40 am
[...] couple of days ago, Lynette Chandler posted about an interesting discovery she made in the Q&A section of PC [...]
May 16th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Boy am I disappointed in PC Mag! Extremely disappointed!
This was nothing more than an assumption coming across as a fact. As I said on Alice’s blog - anyone who doesn’t know any better would take it as a fact.
This really did bug me also. Well enough that I headed to their website hoping to find this in their “Ask Neil” section. Had I found it, I would have left my own comments about this and encouraged many others to do the very same.
I would have loved to have seen a lot of work at home moms - the ones who corner the small business market - let Neil and his readers know just how wrong he was.
I know that sounds as some attack mode but yeah, you really need to do research on something like that before boasting claims such as this one.
May 16th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
[...] friend Lynette from Tech Based Marketing quotes PC Magazine software expert Neil J. Rubenking: When you buy something at a small, [...]
May 16th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
[...] was quoted on another work at home mom blog, Lynette Chandler of Tech Based Marketing who came across it by reading a recent issue of PC [...]
May 16th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
[...] was quoted on another work at home mom blog, Lynette Chandler of Tech Based Marketing who came across it by reading a recent issue of PC [...]
May 18th, 2008 at 4:03 am
[...] Waters, Lynette Chandler & Alice Seba all blogged about a PC Magazine quote that insults home based/small office [...]
May 18th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Ever since I’ve been teaching people online, I’ve sung the song of NEVER EVER EVER buy an email list, you don’t know if the people opted in. And yet, it’s still one of the more popular things to do in marketing.
I have never shared my list in the 10+ years of marketing and never will. To me, it’s just not good business.
Data points,
Barbara
May 28th, 2008 at 2:09 am
I tend to agree. I also find that most stores require their salespeople to be much more pushy about acquiring your personal information (above and beyond the minimum necessary info)
I have had the experience of late of having the sales person at two different stores actually object to me not giving them by phone number so that they could reference my account (after telling them I did not have nor want an account with them) It’s very easy for these people to store a large database with your name and email smack dab in the middle of it.
May 28th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
@Acne: Oh you just reminded me about one big pet peeve of mine. If asking for email is a touchy issue, for me asking for my phone number is even more touchy. I guard my email somewhat but still fairly lax about it because, hey, it’s easy to change emails. Just dump it and move on. Doesn’t cost me a thing.
But a phone number? Not so easily changed and I don’t like to talk to people trying to sell me things on the phone. With email, someone else can take care of that plus with good filter in place, almost doesn’t phase me. Spam phone calls waste much more of my time than spam email.