TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Second Shoe, was: Spitzer... vs. An E-mail List Broker/Harvester

Second Shoe, was: Spitzer... vs. An E-mail List Broker/Harvester

danny burstein (dannyb@panix.com)
Thu, 23 Mar 2006 14:47:09 -0500

( new stuff appended at end )

earlier:

" Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today announced a settlement to address what
may have been the largest breach of privacy in internet history.
....

" Datran was alleged to have improperly used information it had obtained from
several companies that compile and sell information on consumers.

" The largest such company, Gratis Internet, had assured consumers on
several web sites it owned and operated that it would 'never lend,
sell or give out for any reason' the information provided by
users. Among the sites on which Gratis collected user information were
'freeipods.com' and 'freedvds.com.'

" The Attorney General's investigation revealed that Datran knew of Gratis'
promise to consumers when it purchased the consumer lists. But after obtaining
these lists, Datran sent millions of unsolicited e-mails to the listed
consumers.

Rest at:
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2006/mar/mar13a_06.html

--------------- ---------------

And now:

" Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today sued a company responsible for
what is believed to be the largest deliberate breach of privacy in
internet history.

" The suit against web site operator Gratis Internet alleges that the
company sold personal information obtained from millions of consumers
under a strict promise of confidentiality.

[ snip ]

" Even on its sign-up pages, Gratis promised consumers that it 'does
not ... sell/rent emails.'

" However, the Attorney General's investigation confirmed that
Gratis's owners, Peter Martin and Robert Jewell, repeatedly violated
these promises during 2004 and 2005 by selling access to lists of
millions of Gratis's customers to three independent email
marketers. The marketers then sent hundreds of millions of email
solicitations to those users, on behalf of their own customers. In
each of these deals, Gratis wrongfully shared between one and seven
million confidential user records. This is believed to be the largest
deliberate breach of a privacy policy ever discovered by U.S. law
enforcement.

rest at:

http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2006/mar/mar23a_06.html

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