Currys/PCworld

[Farmer Giles]

I have a couple of email accounts. one I use for buying stuff so all the dross goes to that account and it's a google account so you get spam filtering and virus checking of attachments etc. it also has folders so you can drop marketing into one and it will follow suits with subsequent mail of that ilk.

That leaves my less public email addresses generally spam free.

 

[Eric The Viking]

You seem to have an awful lot more faith in the authorities than I do ;-)

And as the EU is down the pan, so to speak, what then

It seems to me it puts yet more regulation on companies who are likely to do things the right way anyway

The emails I receive are by and large ones I want to receive

It's a pan-EU thing. It obviously will have no effect on phishing attacks, etc. as they are intentionally criminal from the outset. But it will (or should) make a difference to any firm with an EU presence (or EU assets), even the really big people.

I hear you, and I'm certainly no friend of the EU in any case. Companies doing the right thing have nothing to fear.

Generally speaking, many organisations see personal data as an asset that can be monetized, either by selling it on or by trying to drum up extra sales. Only the latter will be legal in GDPR, and only then with explicit (opt-in) consent to specific uses that must be stated when the consent is asked for.

I think asking after May 25th for consent to continue sending stuff will be illegal: companies will have to weed their lists before that.

This should also stop the barrage of addressed junk paper through the letterbox, as well, since there is no cheap/easy way to obtain consent for that in the bulk quantities required to make those print runs economically viable. 90% of the stuff that comes through our letterbox goes straight into recycling.

Stuff from Screwfix, et al, which I have unsuccessfully tried to get stopped in the past, arrives stapled and in a plastic bag. Nobody could persuade me this is efficient nor good for the planet, and it really puts me off using Screwfix - if forced to go there I now take cash and refuse to give personal data at the counter.

Some years ago, after protracted correspondence, I managed to get both our bank and telecomms suppliers to remove my age from the data they held. There is absolutely no reason they need that, and it represents a significant security risk if they use it for _any_ purposes.

 

[pip1954]

Hi all very interesting the other one that gets is when they ask for your phone number and it won't let you past until you put a valid number in so some poor s.. used to keeps getting nuisance phone calls .if you can't get what you want without giving your phone number I just don't bother any more and find somewhere I can buy without giving it. Simple's
I just never give it out any more unless I want

 

[sickasapike]

I NEVER give my email to any shop where I am in the shop..

Quite, 'Would you like your receipt emailed to you ?' is the usual question, and it would be handy but of course it'll be abused and sold on; I just take photos of important reciepts, guess everyone does that.

I've had places like Currys be very insistent about addresses even for minor purchases, including when my actual address was 'A van, Sussex'; I just tell them to put the store address if they want the sale.

A more recent facet of this sort of practice is companies that email you from [email protected] and force you to reply on their web site, then require more info than you want to give in order to register so you can reply to them.

Unless you take measures to prevent it (Ghostery, NoScript etc), visiting their site also means they get a load of data from your IP address, browser, screen size, platform etc. that an email doesn't give them, plus if they use goodle adverts or similar systems, all that data nicely keyed with your email address automatically gets shared around to god knows how many other companies who compile it with all the other data they have on your name, email, IP etc etc. and then sell that on to a further raft of companies that.... - it really is a bloomin' nightmare !

The way I see it, sauce, gander etc - if email is OK to talk to me with, it's fine the other way too.

Amazon Web Services are one culprit, I spent nearly a year trying to cancel a trial account as I refused to fill in the additional details I needed to login. I logged into the trial account fine originally, but then after the trial ended they asked for 'more details' after login and the login didn;t complete if you cancelled the 'more details' dialogue. I kept emailing support@, complaints@, press@, info@ etc. but zero reply or a template email saying login to the site to cancel. I just send them to spam now, they still send emails saying essentialy 'Please pay XXX to continue your trial or login to your account to cancel'.

 

[whatknot]

As far as Screwfix is concerned, if you sign in, select personal details

Scroll down there are four tick boxes, Email, Text, Mail & Phone

Just untick the ones you don't want

Then "Save details"

Most sites have a similar system, some more obvious than others

It's a pan-EU thing. It obviously will have no effect on phishing attacks, etc. as they are intentionally criminal from the outset. But it will (or should) make a difference to any firm with an EU presence (or EU assets), even the really big people.

[/quote]

I hear you, and I'm certainly no friend of the EU in any case. Companies doing the right thing have nothing to fear.

 

[sickasapike]

As Rorschach suggests, just give them some bogus email.
Life's too short to be having words with cashiers and managers.

But that just perpetuates the problem and normalises it so the next generation will give over their email without thinking because we did, and then their fingerprint when asked, small incerements towards oblivion... to over-egg it slightly - stick to your guns, refuse to give them one !

 

[sickasapike]

Rutland are really bad for this. I never even read their emails any more. Must be counter productive, I'd have thought.

They are awful aren't they, they seem to have stopped emailing me having not bought anything from them for a month or two.

 

[pcb1962]

But that just perpetuates the problem and normalises it so the next generation will give over their email without thinking because we did!

The next generation don't use email, it's Snapchat or Instagram only these days for teenagers, they don't even use Facebook any more.
If I send my daughter an email I need her to see I have to Snapchat her to tell her to go and read it!

 

[sickasapike]

But that just perpetuates the problem and normalises it so the next generation will give over their email without thinking because we did!

The next generation don't use email, it's Snapchat or Instagram only these days for teenagers, they don't even use Facebook any more.
If I send my daughter an email I need her to see I have to Snapchat her to tell her to go and read it!

Aye, my daughter and I use Telegram, she uses Instagram for friends and Telegram just for me !

 

[ScaredyCat]

So when you search for bandsaws on say google, you visit a non-google site (or google ads linked site) and either get targeted marketing or straight forward direct marketing based on your internet history.

It's all fun and games until you turn out to be Gavin Barwell MP ... :wink: