Hey guys,
I work with the Buddy2Buddy team. We're impressed you found our application already, its only been available for a couple of weeks! ...
How can we work with you?
Warm regards,
Adrian
Hello Adrian, and thanks for your posting.
I have one big problem with the Buddy2Buddy (B2B) thing. Perhaps you can take the steps necessary to correct the problem, and to prevent me from being affected by it.
You (that is, B2B) are promising to do some horrible things to my computer in exchange for providing what appears to be a useful service, however, you lay all of your cards on the table and let me choose whether or not to avail myself of the service.
You also provide instructions for removing the software and for ensuring that "System Save" is not left behind. That is all very honorable.
I do not see that you are tricking anyone, unless it was your company that devised whatever worm it was that used a friend's computer to send me an invitation to B2B.
That brings me to something you have done very, very wrong. Let me quote from the terms you post very plainly underneath the box where a prospective user can download the software:
Acknowledgment and Information Use Disclosure: Please be advised that once you click "Click Here to add your friends" you will have:
(a) initiated the transmission of an non-procured email invitation to join Buddy2Buddy to all recipient email addresses that remain selected and
(ii) granted us permission to add such email addresses to our database so that:
(i) the recipients may be added to your Friend’s list;
(ii) we may send other commercial communications to such recipients; and
(iii) they may be shared or provided by us to third parties for compensation.
The terms then go on to say that the recipients of your e-mail messages may simply "opt out" of receiving them.
So, let me see if I read this correctly. If YOU decide to invite me to join YOUR buddy list on B2B, and if YOU choose to accept the terms and conditions that YOU have read, the people at B2B will take this as permission to send advertising to MY mailbox and to add MY name to dozens or thousands of mailings lists, requiring ME to opt out of each one.
I do not believe the person clicking on the acceptance button has a power of attorney on record anywhere authorizing them to speak for me. I would challenge you to produce such a document. In other words, you are violating a number of laws, both by their letter and by their intent.
It appears that B2B is using any reason at all to harvest names from people who, like me, may not know that this company even exists. That is legally, morally, and ethically wrong.
That B2B is doing that sort of thing casts all of the good things one might say about the company and its practices into the same dark shadows with the most despicable of spammers and scammers.
Given that B2B was so above board with its terms and conditions and practices, I cannot imagine how you can entertain the notion that someone ELSE accepting your free service has the right to commit ME to accept junk mail.
Let's see if I have the sequence of events correct:
- My friend signs up for B2B.
- My friend includes my name in his buddy list.
- My friend clicks the acceptance button.
- I will receive advertising mailings.
- It is my responsibility to "opt out" of all further mailings.
In this particular instance I received an invitation reminder (but never an initial invitation) from a friend. This friend has never heard of B2B and he does not use chat.
Because I have received a follow-up message I must assume that my name is now being circulated and sold. That is just wrong and I plan to do whatever I can to prevent it, before things get out of hand.
I wrote to your Contact Us line and I filed a spam report. In both cases I had to use my e-mail address that you may have on record. If you really had added me to your junk mail lists then there is a 50/50 chance you will take me off because I requested it. It has been about 24 hours but I have not heard from anyone at B2B.
But if you are the despicable type of marketing scum then you could well have taken my address and added it to you various mailing lists, knowing that I was not actually signed up, but now that you have my address you will avail yourself of it.
Here is where you might be able to redeem B2B:
- Immediately change your policy of accepting third-party approval to send e-mail to people.
- Provide me with some mechanism for ensuring that my name and address are removed from your database.
- Try to prove to a very skeptical public that you are actually a legitimate company, thus undoing your horrible first impression.
If you do not do something rather soon you will likely be facing the wrath of the Internet community. There is not much we can do to you legally since you are located in Panama, but this community can certainly make the general public aware of what you are doing, and make them very leery of you.
Perhaps this was a big mistake. Perhaps B2B did not intend to actually begin the process of spamming until asking me to give my approval.
But then again, maybe it was B2B that helped plant the worm that infects people's e-mail, sending out messages to trick them into visiting your Website and writing to you as I have done.
After all, isn't that what marketing is really about, that is, about using lies, deceit, and trickery so you can wallow in the filthy money that you extract from people under false pretenses?
How about proving me wrong. See what you can do to get this straightened out.
Thanks for taking the time to read this rather long posting.
