KonzeptioNerd

Social Networking and E-Mail Harvesting

A few weeks ago, a friend invited me to social networking site Hi5 (not linking on purpose). I knew the sender, I’m interested in communities as a phenomenon of digital lifestyles, so I clicked the coded link and registered. I also changed the mail-address my friend had used (a personal address) to one I usually use in contexts where ensuing spam is to be expected.

Next think, I got repeated e-mails from “Return Path” (again, not linking on purpose), an e-mail marketer who provide smart “change of address (ECOA) and list hygiene services”. They provide these services to clients buying their address bases as well as to website that deal with client data, e.g. community-plattforms. For the latter, they validate and confirm user-addressees, which is indeed a useful service if you run a registratin-based site.

However, Neither Hi5’s Terms & Conditions nor the Privacy Statement inform users on the fact that their addresses will land in an e-mail marketer’s database. Hi5 mentions “partners” that need access to users’ data into order perform services offered by Hi5 and requested a member. Return Path claim they are going to handle my Hi5 contacts for me by updating my new mail address throughout the network. However, as long as we’re within Hi5’s own databases and services, Hi5 should be able to maintain my buddy-connections when I change contact data without resorting to someone with an external base.

Hi5 promise to only use anonymized data for market research purposes and they only inform me that they will contact me via e-mail, not that third parties are going to do so as well.

In fact, Hi5 submit contact data of their users to Return Path immediately on submission. Upon changing the primary e-mail address, Return Path send out mails requesting the user to update their information. The mails are sufficiently vague about the question whether this is necessary for a user’s Hi6 profile and buddy list to function. The mail includes a “click here to complete registration” link that suggests clicking is necessary to complete Hi5 registration.
About ten days later (even if one ignores those mails), there’ll be another mail informing the recipient that he or she is now registered with Return Path and prompting to “Click here to login to Return Path” to configure one’s account.

This has nothing to do with Hi5 services and is simply unconsenting harvesting of e-mail addresses of duped customers.

Btw. my friend deleted her profile almost immediately after registration because, as she points out, the service somehow managed to send invites to her entire address book. I cannot, however, find a feature on Hi5 that would facilitate this.

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