Valar Project, Inc. just sold my email.

[Clint]

Need to vent.

Valar sold my email today, and yours too if you had a registration with them.

I gave Valar my email address to get a login which would let me preview their product, since only registered users could download their previews. I should have known better. On the registration page (http://valarproject.com/user.php?op=register&module=NS-NewUser), the following blurb:

Register now! It's free!
We won't sell/give others your personal info.

Tonight, I get an email from a third party mailing list service, containing a Valar newsletter. I look at the third-party mailing list company's privacy page (http://www.constantcontact.com/privacy_guarantee.jsp), and find that they're so, so against spam, except for this:

Notification of Changes
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on www.roving.com so our users are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.

So this company absolutely, positively won't sell your email until they feel like changing their policy, which they are free to do at any time, and don't have to notify users of the change.

Valar got a free mailing list service at the price of the emails of the recipients. How is this not sharing my personal info? How is this anything but what they said they wouldn't do?

Anyone? Splash a little cold water on me, if you have it, or if I'm missing something completely obvious.

-Clint

 

[TiQuinn]

Anyone? Splash a little cold water on me, if you have it, or if I'm missing something completely obvious.

-Clint

You're citing boilerplate language that exists in some form on pretty much every website out there. It's just life on the internet. If you're worried about it, you should set up an email account specifically for registration and online orders, as opposed to using an email account that you use just with friends, family, and colleagues.

 

[Eridanis]

Scooting over to the Computers forum...

 

[Clint]

Yeah, I know it, TiQuinn. The answer is don't give your email out.

I worked for an email server software company for four years, and we worked on spam control all the time. I know the problem up and down, and your solution is the only correct one.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not upset at the mailing list company. This is what they do. It seems like a nice service; maybe their business model will work and they won't have to sell the emails someday.

I'm upset that Valar specifically said, "We won't share your information" and then turned around and did the literal opposite.

-Clint

 

[Clint]

You're right. I'm sorry, wrong forum. Can we get this thread moved to Computers? Thanks.

[edit: already done! that was fast. ]

 

[TiQuinn]

I'm upset that Valar specifically said, "We won't share your information" and then turned around and did the literal opposite.

-Clint

Maybe you can just bring it to their attention. Unless they set up their own system for distributing the newsletter, they probably don't have any choice in this matter. I don't think there's any bad intentions though.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

I doubt Valar was aware of this. I suggest you make a post on their forums in the web area mentioning this so Lupa can get right on it.

 

[Clint]

I doubt Valar was aware of this. I suggest you make a post on their forums in the web area mentioning this so Lupa can get right on it.

Valar is the company that gave the emails away; someone there has to be aware that they shared the emails.

Besides, there's not much to get right on. Even if it was a mistake, it's not like they can ungive the information.

-Clint

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

I hate to say it but really, there is always going to be spam with the way these online mailing lists are set up. I'd reccomend creating a fake yahoo account for free, that is only for things like this. That way the spam goes there.

I do that and I never get spam in my regular email, which is also a yahoo account.

 

[VorpalBunny]

I hate to say it but really, there is always going to be spam with the way these online mailing lists are set up. I'd reccomend creating a fake yahoo account for free, that is only for things like this. That way the spam goes there.

I do that and I never get spam in my regular email, which is also a yahoo account.

Ditto. All registrations and email happy friends get the netscape account - If my regular account gets 2 pieces of spam a month it's a lot.

But, I'd still bitch loudly at Valar for selling your email, especially when they have a confidentiality clause on their site.