Vodafone spamming users via PM's on its forum

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christherider

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Topic # 185297 17-Nov-2015 15:58

So apparently I'm a member of the Vodafone forum - I probably signed up a LONG time ago back when I used Vodafone. I haven't used Voda for phone or internet in at least 5 years. Today I got an email notifying of a private message on the forum - the entire contents of the PM were included in the email. It was a Vodafone promotion, something to do with winning a new Galaxy phone.

The email contained no unsubscribe feature - Vodafone are leveraging the private message platform to spam its users. This is contrary to the anti-spam provisions in legislation, and as such I left a complaint with the Department of Internal Affairs anti-spam team.

Vodafone, get it together. No one wants to receive your annoying spam. You're breaking the law by not including an unsubscribe button.

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Reply # 1429765 17-Nov-2015 16:01

Yes, I also got that a while back....probably something in the T&Cs of signing up to the forum that allowed them to do this (might you, the big companies are so smart always, so they might be breaching a few rules)

Matt East

johnr

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Reply # 1429773 17-Nov-2015 16:13

The email was a notification that you have a PM on the Vodafone NZ community with some body of the message in the email notification, The DIA will not touch this as you admit you signed up to the VodafoneNZ community

If you want to unsubscribe from email notifications for DM's then log into the community and disable that option

John

Edit: I helped on the case with the DIA related to Brendan Battles but you are so far off the mark about the can spam legislation

MattEast

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Reply # 1429777 17-Nov-2015 16:15

Agreed JR, just looked back at the email and it was a notification that a PM had been sent, there as a link to login which presumably you could go in and make those changes directly in the setting. It was a bit random given the fact I've not logged into the VF forum for the better part of 3-4 years...part of a remarketing campaign perhaps?

Matt East

johnr

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Reply # 1429782 17-Nov-2015 16:27

You can even send a DM to one of the mods including myself and we can remove your profile off the community if you wish,

christherider

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Reply # 1429785 17-Nov-2015 16:35

My email wasn't part of the PM, it was the entire body, and it's clearly a case of Voda trying to get around anti spam legislation. Johnr, it's bothersome that you're defending this type of spam.

Here's the entire email: https://i.imgur.com/pXHqF6u.png

johnr

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Reply # 1429787 17-Nov-2015 16:38

I got the same email and at the very top of the message is

" New private message from Dylan in Vodafone community "

christherider

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Reply # 1429790 17-Nov-2015 16:44

johnr: I got the same email and at the very top of the message is

" New private message from Dylan in Vodafone community "

Yes, which is exactly how I would blast the email if I wanted to get around anti-spam provisions. I posted a copy of the email above.

I PM'd you, could you please remove me from the Vodafone community?

thelongwayround

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Reply # 1429803 17-Nov-2015 17:15

Well from my view, I liked it in that it was the "first time" ever I had got a e-mail from the community and I went to it to check it was a DM, the info provided was all good, a quick read and than move on.

PaulBrislen

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Reply # 1429827 17-Nov-2015 17:55

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New Zealand's anti spam legislation is built around the idea of unsolicited email - that is, email you didn't sign up for. As such, the act spends a lot of time talking about what you did and didn't agree to when giving over your email address.

In this case you've handed over your email address as part of the sign up process and I'm sure in there somewhere was a line saying "if you get a private message we'll email you to tell you about it". That's pretty standard these days and I doubt any court (or the Department of Internal Affairs) would consider such an email to be 'unsolicited' in the way set out by the law.

Whether the content of the PM is something you personally would consider to be acceptable or not is another matter, but I don't think getting an email to say you've got a private message is going to be considered a problem email.

Cheers

Paul

gregmcc

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Reply # 1429835 17-Nov-2015 18:09

I think that VF are within their rights to send out this message (I got one as well), after having a quick look at the VF website I can't see a link to the VF community T&C's, can someone post the link here so we can all see it.

freitasm

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Reply # 1429838 17-Nov-2015 18:10

I agree with Paul on this. But also this is one of the reasons why many people ask for Geekzone PMs to have the original message and I just say "Nope" (the other is that having the message could make it easier for PM notifications to be trapped in spam folders).

Geekzone broadband switch | Amazon (Geekzone aff) | MightyApe (Geekzone aff) | Backblaze cloud backup (personal and business) | My technology disclosure

johnr

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Reply # 1429843 17-Nov-2015 18:19

@gregmcc Terms are on the community Click on ' Welcome! info & guides ' second option down

nigelj

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Reply # 1429848 17-Nov-2015 18:25

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PaulBrislen: New Zealand's anti spam legislation is built around the idea of unsolicited email - that is, email you didn't sign up for. As such, the act spends a lot of time talking about what you did and didn't agree to when giving over your email address.

In this case you've handed over your email address as part of the sign up process and I'm sure in there somewhere was a line saying "if you get a private message we'll email you to tell you about it". That's pretty standard these days and I doubt any court (or the Department of Internal Affairs) would consider such an email to be 'unsolicited' in the way set out by the law.

Whether the content of the PM is something you personally would consider to be acceptable or not is another matter, but I don't think getting an email to say you've got a private message is going to be considered a problem email.

Cheers

Paul

I partly disagree, signing up for a forum you naturally agree to receive notifications (unless you opt-out), but when the content of the notification is commercial/advertising in nature, I feel that starts pushing the boundary, especially when sent to non-active users. (Interestingly, I used to be signed up to the Vodafone forums back in '08 but I didn't get it so can't judge it for myself).

Saying forum membership to a company's message boards infers commercial advertising is a bit of a stretch (see http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2007/0007/latest/whole.html#DLM405141) also DIA has in the past taken the stand that long periods of no contact means consent shouldn't be taken for granted.

Ironically, if the message wasn't apparently in the body, I'd say not a leg to stand on. Regardless, it does sound a bit mountain out of a molehill-ish doesn't it? Login unsubscribe from notifications, and forget it.

mike

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Reply # 1429849 17-Nov-2015 18:27

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I think Vodafone need to be careful here as pretty easy to argue 2/3 of that message is for "marketing purposes"

Your email address is used to send you system emails, like your registration confirmation and password reminders, updates about changes made to this service including any notices that we may need to send you regarding your use of the Vodafone Community. Please be assured that we will not use your email address for marketing purposes unless you have otherwise agreed to this. All other usage of your personal information is governed by Vodafone’s privacy policy which forms part of these Terms.

gregmcc

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Reply # 1429852 17-Nov-2015 18:34

2 people support this post

Complaint to VF about this user sending spam, get him banned

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