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Original poster

Did anyone else get an email from a PR agency, regarding TV habits of their children?

46 replies

moodlumhohohoodlum · 07/01/2009 20:27

I got two emails today, regarding me participating in more research into children's TV habits, for PR purposes. After the first one, a few hours later, I got a second one, apologising profusely for the first one...

How strange? I vaguely remember filling in some MN thing about what TV my children watch, but I didn't expect to be contacted.

Has anyone else had this? Or am I being a bit dim, and this has already been discussed?

OP posts:

Marina · 07/01/2009 23:13

I am pretty sure I ticked a box saying I was happy for the survey organisers to contact me again for further research, and by implication have my e-mail address. I am sure that part of it is all OK Justine.
I did expect Nelson Cockup to know how to use the Bcc function though
Nine year old ds knows what that's for!

Fillyjonk · 08/01/2009 07:59

re the opt out box-if there WAS one-and surely there should have been? I am almost certain I would have ticked it. I absolutely always tick it and look for them if they are not obvious.

If this was part of the T&C that our emails would be passed on to them for further spam, and we had no opt out, I do feel strongly it should have been flagged up as it is a rather unusual and unexpected term.

ThingOne · 08/01/2009 09:19

Oh, I'm sure I ticked the box saying I would do follow-up as I was interested in the topic but I never give permission for my email address to be distributed.

How can the managers of the agency let untrained staff loose like this? Just isn't fair on them or us.

hippipotami · 08/01/2009 09:25

Yes, me too...
I have been wracking my brain about where it came from.... so it was MN was it [stern look]

Actually, felt a bit sorry for that Jilly woman when she had to apologize about the emails.... Poor thing...

SlartyBartFast · 08/01/2009 10:20

but what is the worst that could happen anyway?

hippipotami · 08/01/2009 10:51

I must admit, teh emails I give out on MN and for surveys etc is my 'public' email. We have a 'private' one for friends and family only. So am not overly bothered about the email being out there.

Marina · 08/01/2009 11:00

Filly, it was an opt-in to be contacted for further research, I think.
But like a lot of these things, I bet it was easily missed/not terribly explicit

DataDay · 08/01/2009 11:17

"but what is the worst that could happen anyway? "

Depends.

People have all sorts of circumstances that could be compromised by this.

Someone whose ex-partner is stalking them online and in an idele moment signs up to the survey in hope of winning the comp - and then gets his exp's new email - which may include their workplace.

MN-ers who have used a work e mail may become much more stalkable or vulnerable to malicious meddling / attack.

People may simply be outed as MN-ers when they wished their name to remain private.

Spam is merely the nuisance aspect.

In practice there may be no harmful result of this at all, but principles of privacy are there for very good reasons.

MNHQ

carriemumsnet · 08/01/2009 11:30

Hi all

First off huge apologies to all again from MNHQ. We are as cross about this as you are. I have left a message for Jilly and am waiting to speak with her direct.

I just wanted to reassure you that we are extremely careful with all your data and would never pass it on to any third party without your consent. In this instance there were two opportunities to sign up to do additional research for Freeview. In the first one (the one where we were trying to recruit for the online focus group) it said at the top:

If you?re interested in being considered, please add your details below. If you're selected your details will be passed directly to Freeview, otherwise your details will not be passed on to any third party.

The second one - the survey - had a section where we asked folks if they wanted to be contacted at a later date:

Freeview would like to use a number of Mumsnetters for further research, such as keeping a television viewing diary or being used as a case study. Everyone who is chosen and who takes part in this additional activity will be given £25 of Amazon vouchers. If you?re interested in being considered please indicate below - on the next page you'll be asked to enter your contact details.

If you sign up here your details will be passed directly to Freeview. Otherwise your details will not be passed on to any third party except in the event that you win the prize draw.

I know this doesn't make up for the stupid mistake of cc -ing all your emails but just wanted to reassure folks that MNHQ weren't handing out emails willy nilly.

Anyway, huge apologies from us again and we will let you know what Jilly says when she gets back.

MNHQ

ChopsTheDuck · 08/01/2009 11:44

I got the apology before the original email rather oddly! Completely confused me.

I was in touch with the original researcher. I don't really see how there is a massive spam risk, the email addresses are only a group of research participants, hardly people likely to spam you.

Fillyjonk · 08/01/2009 12:24

ok have worked out the problem, I think I have a slightly different situation to others because I think they may have gotten my email through a slightly different route.

the problem is that I don't think I DID opt in, I didn't want to be part of the focus group (aside from anything else, my kids don't actually watch tv), but more than that, there is an ethical angle to this sort of thing for me.

What I did was to enter the competition, which I won. I was contacted directly about winning the competition by the PR company and I think that this is how my email address ended up on the mass email.

Fillyjonk · 08/01/2009 12:25

(I am sure that your hearts are all bleeding for me as I sit here with my boden-clad children, courtesy of freeview.

I am still quite irritated though. Mainly by the glib apology, tbh. )

MNHQ

carriemumsnet · 08/01/2009 13:35

Hi All

Just spoke with the head honcho at nelson bostock and they are very very apologetic. Jilly couldn't speak because she is "still in floods of tears" is absolutely devastated by her mistake and is fully aware of how much she has cocked up. It was a stupid but honest mistake and everyone at NB are very sorry. If it's any consolation I doubt she will ever make the same mistake again.

I'm not sure there's more they (or we) can do, but wanted to report back that they are taking this seriously and the person who made the mistake is genuinely upset and sorry for what she did.

Also to reiterate, we would never pass on your details to a third party without your consent. The reason fillyjonk must have been on a list is because she won and we do say:
If you sign up here your details will be passed directly to Freeview. Otherwise your details will not be passed on to any third party except in the event that you win the prize draw.

She still shouldn't have been contacted if she hadn't opted in, but we can see why that mistake might have been made as they had her email as a winner.

So cock up all round, but they are very sorry. For our part we will try and make the point to companies in future that if they do contact Mumsnetters, not to cc the rest of the Mumsnet world in the email.

MNHQ

traceybath · 08/01/2009 13:40

thanks for the explanation carrie - i do feel a bit sorry for jilly too.

i used to work in an agency and once sent an email out in the wrong language - god i felt dreadful.

whippet · 08/01/2009 13:41

I see this happen so often! I wonder why Microsoft don't invite a pop-up window that says
"You've entered a lot of e-mail addresses in the 'To' box - Could this represent a data privacy risk?"

SlartyBartFast · 08/01/2009 13:43

maybe Jilly would like to join this thread

once it has all died down

MumHadEnough · 08/01/2009 13:47

I got the mail too. I felt really sorry for the girl though as I did something similar once, only to about 3000 people!

As long as none of us are spammers then there is nothing really to worry about I suppose!

Didn't recognise any of you either lol.

bluesky · 08/01/2009 16:52

slartybartfast, thanks for that link, I must have missed that one in November, it's hilarious!! I've had to pause to get a cup of tea and come back to it.

LackaDAISYcal · 08/01/2009 17:02

I was a bit about it, but not too worried about it. Yes, my RL name is on there, but I doubt anyone else on that list will know who the hell I am, and I already get a shed load of spam which is normally filtered out by my ISP so not too worried about that aspect of it. I can't remember agreeing to further contact, but I took part in the focus group so perhaps I unwittingly signed my life away.

of your boden clad children fillyjonk!

Original poster

moodlumhohohoodlum · 08/01/2009 17:11

Poor PR Jilly. We all make mistakes.

PR Jilly sounds like she should be on that thread that cod started many years ago which occupied my life for a long time. The, 'If your name is Linda you are an admin person at a hospital one'...

this one

OP posts:

reikizen · 08/01/2009 17:14

I got it too, but emailed her to say not to stress about it as there were more upsetting breaches of privacy (like ID cards and CCTV cameras and lost government laptops)than an email (which you can delete or ignore). Felt a bit sorry for her tbh but I was completely confused as to where it came from for a while.

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