There were two instances of spam here yesterday. One was electronic and
well documented here, the other more insidious, and "spam by snail mail"
A publication trawled our email discussion group for street addresses of all
members who have been polite enough to give them to the list in emails. We
then received in the mail an offer to subscribe to that publication.
Whether the publication has or has not merits is not the issue.
On being asked to explain, a nominated representative form the publication
stated "I have investigated this matter and it seems that one of our
employees saw your name and contact details on an email sent to a data
protection subscription service - there was an assumption made that you
would be interested in the journal." I have not quoted the source here.
I will supply the moderator privately with the name of the publication if
she wishes to take action against an apparent abuse of this list. I suspect
that the perpetrator will already have unsubscribed, though. I realise that
it is my choice to be here, and my choice to give out my details. Even so,
it seems to me that something could be altered to give at least an illusion
of security.
What I also wanted to do by sending this message is to alert other people
here, using us as an example, that systems which they feel may be secure and
which they know meet all aspects of the legislation may be open to abuse by
allegedly less scrupulous parties. This is, to me, a genuine data
protection issue.
I don't seek to spark a list of "Was that 'Fish Keeping Today'?" queries [it
wasn't, and I hope I made that name up]. By giving out that data I would be
in danger of breaking the act. Nor do I wish to see a load of "I got that
too" messages. People may deal direct with the periodical concerned, since
it has a street, email and fax address.
_____________________________________________________________
Tim Trent
Chief Privacy Officer EMEA
> Gartner
EMEA Marketing, Tamesis, The Glanty, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom,
TW20 9AW
Switchboard +44 (0)1784 431 611, Direct Line +44 (0)1784 267 335, Mobile +44
(0)7710 126 618
Visit our home on the web: http://www.gartner.com
The opinions expressed in this message are my own, and may or may not
reflect those of my employer. They are expressed as a part of the
discussion on the JISCMail mailing list on data protection and for no other
purpose. They have no legal standing and are offered as part of informed
and informal discussion. They may NOT be attributed to Gartner in any way.
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