RapLeaf

[peteryoung]

Given that I was one of the unwilling and very unimpressed targets of today's unwelcome spamming activities from RapLeaf, I have discovered the following (under the cut) tucked away at the very end of their Privacy Policy. They specifically and consciously do not make opting out easy, probably in the belief that with the power of instantaneous communication that the internet provides, not many will go the whole route. Personally I find this pretty disgraceful that I have to opt out of their plans for global domination rather than opt in, as with any other social networking site. I have e-mailed them twice today (to privacy@rapleaf.com and people@rapleaf.com) expressing my sincere and considerable annoyance that their spamming is costing me time (and now money) to put my online life right again, and I have now sent copies with extreme prejudice to opt-out@rapleaf.com.

Copy and distribute the following liberally if anyone on your FL has been similarly affected, or point them to their Privacy Policy.

Opt-Out

An individual may request information taken down for a given email address by emailing support@rapleaf.com.

Additional, individuals can elect to have their information opted-out from Rapleaf’s database by following these steps:

1. Email opt-out@rapleaf.com from the email address requesting to opt-out. Rapleaf will then email back an opt-out form to confirm the email address.

2. Print out this customized opt-out form, fill it out, and mail it to the following postal address:

Rapleaf
Attn: Opt-Out Request
657 Mission Street, Suite 600
San Francisco, CA 94105

Rapleaf will then quickly follow up with a confirmation email. All relevant information pertaining to this opted-out email address will also be removed.

Comments

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, until the form is mailed in, processed, and returned, the database containing the information you're requesting to have removed has been sold numerous times.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

Yup. Sucks rocks. And over here (http://carlo.zottmann.org/2007/08/21/dear-rapleaf-guys-there-is-no-good-spam) someone from RapLeaf has made a plea for clemency, which would be completely laughable if it weren't also an insult to everyone's intelligence.

[drasecretcampus.livejournal.com]

Sadly Dan@Rapleaf.com on has one friend on MySpace. Some chap called Tom. So much for his networking skills.


The site's been around for a while - I came across a couple of months ago, but didn't worry about it. My stuff's all pretty transparent - assuming Friends Locked stuff stays locked - but it's not blatant.

On the other hand, I did just receive this from Dan@Rapleaf.com
Hi Xxxxxxx,

Thanks for the email and we apologize for any inconvenience. We've gone
ahead and removed your profile.

If we can be of any further assistance, please don't hesitate to email.

Best,

Dan Scudder
Rapleaf

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

How long did it take to get that response?

[drasecretcampus.livejournal.com]

Give or take a couple, ten minutes? I sent it own, pottered a little, sniggered at his MySpace profile, alt-tabbed back, and lo! and behold. Ect.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

Cheers. Will try.

[drasecretcampus.livejournal.com]

Of course, if everyone tries it, he would be swamped, which would be a shame.






Of course we probably ought to be worried about data we don't know people have got, and all we can be certain of - to the extent that we can - is that this isn't available on Rapleaf publicly. It might still be in their database.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

Which was the thought that drove me to include this line in my e-mail to him:

"I specifically request that RapLeaf possesses no information about me connected to this e-mail address, and any other e-mail addresses I may have that I may later discover you have also gathered and attached a personal profile to."

FWIW, which probably isn't much considering what we don't know they know, but it states my position.

This is getting very Dickian, which I'm sure you of all people can appreciate!

[drasecretcampus.livejournal.com]

That's the point that you discover you actually run Rapleaf, and in fact the only way to find out your real identity is to discover what's written about yourself online...

[abrinsky.livejournal.com]

So which book is this? Can't quite identify it from the Pocket Essential Guide to PKD?

There is a film version isn't there?

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking The Man Who Japed, where this Dan guy will finally work to bring down the system he once created... oh please.

Aggregate's like gravel, yes? Or when you lose when playing them away, again

[drasecretcampus.livejournal.com]

Now received this:

Your information was removed from the Rapleaf site and will only be kept for aggregate purposes only. If you would like your information completely removed from Rapleaf databases, please print out the attached customized opt-out forms, fill it out, and mail it to the following postal address:

Rapleaf
Attn: Opt-Out Request
657 Mission Street, Suite 600
San Francisco, CA 94105

Re: Aggregate's like gravel, yes? Or when you lose when playing them away, again

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

So there's no 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card after all, and I've still not had a reply nearly two and a half hours later. The poor man must be drowning in bad vibes right now.

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough, spammingbastard@rapleaf.com has a profile - with a high reputation, and all!

[del-c.livejournal.com]

Not from here it doesn't. Did you check, or did rapleaf remove it after you checked?

[abrinsky.livejournal.com]

Only just catching up after getting in. I've had the same which has linked one of my email addresses (based on 'abrinsky') and linked to my real name. This can only have come via Flickr as I was using an email with my real name in it (and I'm not on Facebook). Bastards. Good to see all the not-love they are getting.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

I hae never had a flickr account, but I do have a yahoo account, and I understand yahoo and flickr are unpleasantly deeply integrated these days. Does this mean everyone with a yahoo account is at risk as well?

[abrinsky.livejournal.com]

Possibly... given that Yahoo now owns Flickr. Gulp!

[annafdd.livejournal.com]

Isn't there a data protection act in England for this kind of things? I could extract a whole lot of money from them in Italy. There's also an authority responsible for policing compliance. I feel like making a formal complaint, maybe to the mail police?

[drplokta]

There is, but RapLeaf is out of its jurisdiction, so there would be no way to enforce any ruling.

[drasecretcampus.livejournal.com]

You might not need the paper form now:

Received this from Vivek@rapleaf.com

We've made some major improvements internally to our opt-out process and we no longer require you mail in the opt-out request form. Your information is now opted-out of Rapleaf and is now removed from our databases.

I apologize for any inconvenience. Please let me know if you have any other questions, concerns, etc.

I'll try logging in.

You can also try: Justin Camerer
Sean Carr
Bryan Duxbury
Dayo Esho
Cristina Hernandez
Auren Hoffman
Chris Kline
Jeremy Lizt
Dan Scudder
Manish Shah

Although apparently Sean@ no longer works.

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

I got the same email, and when I checked they have removed my details from the website.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

I've now received the same e-mail too, from Vivek Sodera. I expect/hope they now have a large number of staff working on damage limitation.