Gratis Truste sealrevoked!
DIGITALgimpus
09-02-2005 20:16:57
From wired
http//wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,66557,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_5
Interesting turn of events.
I know they don't delete your email address from their spamming list. That may be the reason. I used a unique address when I signed up... and yes, it gets spammed pretty good despite my best efforts. They are the only website to ever get that email address. So I know the spammers have some relationship to them, either direct or indirect.
SoBeIcedT
09-02-2005 20:29:04
I dont really care if they are Truste certified, I got my freeipod, and I made up an email for them only, and if they send me junk mail to my campus address I dont really care. I took it all into consideration when i signed up
jtfields
09-02-2005 20:37:01
I made up an e-mail just for them as well and I don't get spam other than shortly after I registered (which was last August.)
amaivs
09-02-2005 20:43:39
I don't really care either..
there is always some strings attached when there is something "free"
i don't mind the email. i signed up using my gmail acct.. i just let the junk mail pile up until 30 days and gmail deletes em all then.
Retro
09-02-2005 21:00:11
all of the spam goes to my directly to my spam folder anyways so I don't care.
Stroid
09-02-2005 21:07:19
Ive never gotten any spam from gratis
FreeOffersNow
09-02-2005 21:27:01
You're going to get spam no matter what you do...so why not get free stuff in the process? Boo-hoo if it adds a bit more spam to your inbox...does anyone [ia378fd3621]really[/ia378fd3621] care?
Tholek
09-02-2005 21:30:23
I knew going in that I'd get spammed, and so should everyone else. This is why people have more than one email account. ;)
EatChex89
09-02-2005 22:28:07
[quote64b80772ba="FreeOffersNow"]You're going to get spam no matter what you do...so why not get free stuff in the process? Boo-hoo if it adds a bit more spam to your inbox...does anyone [i64b80772ba]really[/i64b80772ba] care?[/quote64b80772ba]
i could care less about spam, it's my ex-emailaddress thati use, haha
also as long as its for spamming and not delivering products im good
DIGITALgimpus
10-02-2005 06:29:44
I find this more disturbing
[quote4fee17adfc]TRUSTe said Gratis violated promises involving the protection of children's information and changed how it managed the private information of its customers without adequately notifying them.[/quote4fee17adfc]
twistrman
10-02-2005 06:47:16
i never got any spam from gratis. if it was a new e-mail account you were getting spam into it it could just the the account. i have 2 addresses from the same free place. 1 i have never gotten spam in. i registered another there for work related stuff, before i could even give out the address it was getting spammed...
CollidgeGraduit
10-02-2005 06:49:50
No big deal to me
DIGITALgimpus
10-02-2005 09:44:31
[quote5b8f0da8b8="twistrman"]i never got any spam from gratis. if it was a new e-mail account you were getting spam into it it could just the the account. i have 2 addresses from the same free place. 1 i have never gotten spam in. i registered another there for work related stuff, before i could even give out the address it was getting spammed...[/quote5b8f0da8b8]
It's on my own mail server... and it's to unique to be spammed by a dictonary attack.
And I know it originated from some personal info, because some of the spam is even targeted with my zip code.
So
1. Someone knew the address. Impossible to guess unless I gave it out
2. Someone who had the address knew my zip
There's only [b5b8f0da8b8]1[/b5b8f0da8b8] company that meets that criteria.
It's a garbage email, so I don't really care... but it's a matter of principle. It's theoretically impossible for the account to be spammed by a source who didn't get the info from gratis.
willietanner
10-02-2005 10:01:50
obviously its more than just gratis and spam working together. the fact that it is the only time in two years that TrustE has withdrawn certification means that Gratis was acting differently than other companies that maintain certification. it probably won't affect the average user, but certainly doesn't reflect well on a company, and is the kind of thing that makes it more difficult to convince referrals.
FreeOffersNow
10-02-2005 13:57:37
OMFG! They are going to spam me? No way....FREE stuff is definately not worth the receipt of unwanted emails.
josiah296
10-02-2005 14:09:08
I suggest getting a badass e-mail host, that lets you do e-mail address aliasing, things like email==josiah-freecrap@coptix.comjosiah-freecrap@coptix.com=josiah-freecrap@coptix.comjosiah-freecrap@coptix.com/email == email==josiah@coptix.comjosiah@coptix.com=josiah@coptix.comjosiah@coptix.com/email
Allows you to filter incoming address so much better. I never see any spam, AND I can see who's giving away my e-mail account to spammers.
willietanner
10-02-2005 14:12:15
it's not just the spam. you may not care, but the are plenty of people out there who have phobias regarding their privacy. the reason that the truste verification was revoked was because Gratis' actions were inconsistent with their stated policy. That does not set a very good precedent for anybody or any company, i think that is fair to say.
FreeOffersNow
10-02-2005 14:16:44
Raise your hand if you don't care.
Stroid
10-02-2005 14:23:36
liraises handli
willietanner
10-02-2005 14:40:16
not a big deal. seems petty to refuse to acknowledge that it could hurt peoples faith in gratis though, no matter whether you care or not.
willietanner
10-02-2005 14:48:16
i also always find it amazing that people go to the effort of posting that they don't care about something. maybe that's just me
FreeOffersNow
10-02-2005 15:06:47
Maybe its just me....but more than 50% of your posts have been about the TRUSTe seal revocation. Spam isn't exactly a huge concern for most of us.
Collateral
10-02-2005 15:09:51
[quote31ad2614a9="FreeOffersNow"]Maybe its just me....but more than 50% of your posts have been about the TRUSTe seal revocation. Spam isn't exactly a huge concern for most of us.[/quote31ad2614a9]
I could care less about spam really...as long as I get my free shit.
willietanner
10-02-2005 15:18:59
So what would your response be to a potential referral who is worried about signing up because they read that TrustE revoked their endorsement of their site becuase Gratis' actual policies differ so greatly from their publicly stated policy?
Maybe your response is, fine, don't sign up, I'll find someone else. But it just doesn't reflect well on a company, especially since the story has been picked up by gizmodo and google news and a few others.
Collateral
10-02-2005 15:23:11
[quote6886c9999c="willietanner"]So what would your response be to a potential referral who is worried about signing up because they read that TrustE revoked their endorsement of their site becuase Gratis' actual policies differ so greatly from their publicly stated policy?
Maybe your response is, fine, don't sign up, I'll find someone else. But it just doesn't reflect well on a company, especially since the story has been picked up by gizmodo and google news and a few others.[/quote6886c9999c]
I agree it doesn't look good for Gratis. Although, It doesn't concern me nothing less. I've already completed almost all of their sites except mini macs.
willietanner
10-02-2005 15:25:06
yeah i don't care about it. if you sign up with a real email address, it is your fault. but perception of gratis as a scam operation is a large problem for them, and for many people trying to get others to use their websites, and any bad press won't be good for them or their users in the long run.
EatChex89
10-02-2005 15:33:59
[quote4ed5dfff43="Collateral"][quote4ed5dfff43="willietanner"]So what would your response be to a potential referral who is worried about signing up because they read that TrustE revoked their endorsement of their site becuase Gratis' actual policies differ so greatly from their publicly stated policy?
Maybe your response is, fine, don't sign up, I'll find someone else. But it just doesn't reflect well on a company, especially since the story has been picked up by gizmodo and google news and a few others.[/quote4ed5dfff43]
I agree it doesn't look good for Gratis. Although, It doesn't concern me nothing less. I've already completed almost all of their sites except mini macs.[/quote4ed5dfff43]
i agree with collateral and stroid and offers
who gives a crap? 49.95% of th epeople that sign up get an email address solely for the gratis sites anyway! the other 49.95% use an email address that they don't use anymore... that makes up 99.9%! the other .1% don't sign up anyway.
willietanner
10-02-2005 16:12:35
Just to make sure people know, a great number of people out there don't look favorably on the gratis sites or any others. View the comments at fark.com of people who post their referral links there in classified ads
http//forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1342757
for example, even though that is an offercentric one. when this press gets to these people who so irrationally hate gratis, it will just fuel their fires, and increase the negative buzz about the site.
i'm done now, but it is important to realize that outside of this relatively small self selecting community, people have different opinions about gratis and its free products.
penguin
10-02-2005 17:12:48
i don't mind spam b/c i also use a unique email address just for gratis. however, i don't like receiving physical junk mail. i get enough of it already. i don't know if they give out home addresses or if they even can but oh well. too late now. i also stayed away from offers that didn't have great privacy policies.
vulcan300
10-02-2005 17:43:50
maybe its not spam but unique user info? anyway from the looks of the article it seems like gratis doesnt really care, maybe they dont think itll phaze them that much. as for this small community you speak of i think its enoth to support gratis as long as they comply with our free goods.
anyway gg gratis, ill be lookin forward to them shuffles ;)
Godrockdj
10-02-2005 20:48:51
[quote3edc072777="willietanner"]So what would your response be to a potential referral who is worried about signing up because they read that TrustE revoked their endorsement of their site becuase Gratis' actual policies differ so greatly from their publicly stated policy?
Maybe your response is, fine, don't sign up, I'll find someone else. But it just doesn't reflect well on a company, especially since the story has been picked up by gizmodo and google news and a few others.[/quote3edc072777]
I agree. Some people don't care, but some of my possible referrals do. I had one friend to whom the TrustE certification was a big smelling point.
FreeOffersNow
11-02-2005 19:04:09
I've completed all except for FreeDesktopPC (6/10) and FreeHandBags (3/5) )
Maybe they shouldn't have got it in the first place. Gratis isn't really a stand up company anyways. Sure they might not be a monster, but no one is expecting a flawless image or great customer service when they do something of that nature. It's the idea that maybe it will work and you'll get a nice piece of electronics for very little.
CollidgeGraduit
11-02-2005 20:25:46
http//biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050211/cgf021_1.html
Read it, and quit your bitching D
DIGITALgimpus
12-02-2005 08:12:47
I'd still want Truste to disclose the violation. IMHO they have an ethical obligation to do so.
A court in theory could even require them to do so. There are enough electronic privacy laws around that keeping quiet [ic79d8a2fa2]could[/ic79d8a2fa2] be a criminal act (especially if a child is involved). Then again, I'd kind of perfer that to happen... just to set legal precident.
That would really change the way online privacy is looked at.
IMHO Truste dropped the ball on this just as much as Gratis.
FreeOffersNow
12-02-2005 10:07:32
[quote51532d763f="CollidgeGraduit"]http//biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050211/cgf021_1.html
Read it, and quit your bitching D[/quote51532d763f]
Good find!