When Opt-In Really Means Opt-Out
from the when-you're-desperate-for-money dept
There was a time when Yahoo was cool and understood its users. They provided cool and useful services. Now that they’re desperate for money and have brought in the “professional” management they don’t seem to care at all about their users. The latest is the change in Yahoo’s privacy policy and preferences. They have automatically reset everyone’s preferences to say they want spam mail from Yahoo. I just checked, and it’s true. All of my preferences were set to receive junk – including my home address and telephone number. This is ridiculous. All they’re doing is pissing off their users. eBay tried the exact same stunt a year ago – and it angered people then as well. Any marketing emails should be opt-in. Never opt-out. As I asked in the eBay story, was Yahoo receiving complaints from people who weren’t receiving enough spam from them?
Comments on “When Opt-In Really Means Opt-Out”
F
F-ing Yahoo. It was hard to find where all of those preferences were too! I thought the pop-up ads from yahoo these days were bad enough. Let’s just all pray Google never gets taken over by a similar group of assholes
msykes
Those Yahoos
I have to say, however desperate Yahoo! is for cash, that has to be – at least I’m hoping it will turn out to be – one of the stupidest decisions they could ever make. At a time when trust has gone out the window, and even Microsoft is taking a look at security, Yahoo! has practically gone out of their way to piss people off. And they wonder why we use “throwaway” email IDs (many of them at yahoo.com) to avoid spam.
Not only did I reset my settings to “Opt Me Out of Everything,” but also replaced real personal information with bogus dead-ends. As a result of this insane decision on Yahoo!’s part, one of the few online entities who had any of my trust and respect has lost it all.
No Subject Given
Send Yahoo a complaint about this ridiculous marketing opt-in:
http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/privacy/cgi_feedback