In a move reminicent of the BD recruitment email blunder just over two years ago, location-based social network aggregator Footfeed have inadvertently sent an email to around 100 of their beta testers (including myself) *please see update below. The email (below) was asking the Footfeed beta testers to answer a survey regarding their service. My first thought would be to learn how to use the BCC field.
Hi. We are making a number of improvements and upgrades to Footfeed over the next several months and as a registered member of our community, we would appreciate getting your thoughts on how we can make it better by completing our short survey. We don’t have money or gift cards to bribe you with. Just our appreciation and gratitude, which is way more valuable!
Here is a link to the survey:
http://bit.ly/g5ZaB6
Thanks for your help!
The email sparked a number of complaints from fellow Footfeed beta testers, one of them pointing out the breach in the Footfeed privacy policy:
Information sharing
In addition to the uses noted above, Footfeed only shares personal information with other companies or individuals outside of Footfeed in the following limited circumstances:
We have your consent. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information.
We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations thereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or (d) protect against imminent harm to the rights, property or safety of Footfeed, its users or the public as required or permitted by law.
If Footfeed becomes involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of sale of some or all of its assets, we will provide notice before personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
Please contact us at the address below for any additional questions about the management or use of personal data.
To date we have not received an apology from Footfeed regarding this break in their privacy policy.
Update [07/12/2010 @ 00:28]: Just had a message from Footfeed on Twitter informing me that “Footfeed did not cc: all beta testers. The issue occurred with exactly 100 users, not the other 9,200 users”, sorry for that. Still no response on the email thread/apology.
