Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Usage Abuse

Received the following from my new wireless provider.


Now I clearly gave them the date of my birthday, but my sharing would have been in the context of 'security verification info' and not 'undesirable marketing spam'.

Somebody with more motivation than I might go take a look at the privacy policy and see what clause they've violated by collecting identity in one context and using it in another.

Secondly, what is the value of free calling on my birthday if constrained to only 'from us to you'? Big deal! I don't want them calling me anyways.

1 comment:

Robert said...

Congratulations! Hope you have a nice day and not too many spam calls, spam email and spam blog comments!

Out of old habit I checked the Telus privacy policy. It is constructed in an interesting way. First they list what they need and use identity information for, then they list how they "protect" your privacy. The first such protection "measure" is that:

"(Telus) will not collect, use or disclose your personal information for any purpose other than those identified above, except with your consent"

Now the purposes "identified (sic!) above" include for example these gems:
"to establish and maintain a responsible commercial relationship" and "to understand your needs and preferences". I'm sure some Telus marketing genius truly believes that sending congratulations is part of maintaining a responsible commercial relationship. And including a day of free local calls is a honest attempt to understanding your needs. ;)
How old-fashioned. If they would only spent a minute to read your blog they'd know that they should send a box of Australian beer. Have one on my behalf too, if possible in some hot tub!