Reunion.com Faces Privacy Problems
Posted by Nick O'Neill on July 2nd, 2008 2:59 PM
In the social networking industry, the single most important factor for building user trust is strict control over their privacy. It looks like Reunion.com continues to break their users’ trust. Back in May I wrote about Reunion.com spam tactics. An article in LA Times highlights yet another privacy violation by Reunion.com.
This time around the company paid a third-party for a massive user database which ended up including the data of minors, one of which was only 4-years old. According to the article, “Reunion.com’s privacy policy says the site ‘prohibits registration by and will not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under 13.’ But that doesn’t address the site’s own data-gathering.”
The data may not have come from their recent user database acquisition though. Instead a Reunion.com supervisor suggested that the information probable came from “state vaccination records or from the Centers for Disease Control.” Wherever the data came from it can be shocking to see the information of your family members who aren’t members of the site showing up within your profile thanks to the help of third-party data.
Oregon State officials stated that this information is technically not public and that Reunion.com’s assertion was completely inaccurate. I think I smell a lawsuit coming. The company appears to be in the business of aggregating profiles of individuals created by third-party data providers whether or not those individuals are actually users. If there is one company that is good at building a bad reputation, I would say Reunion.com is.
Have you had any bad experiences with the company?
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Please let your readers know they can file a complaint against www.reunion.com by accessing the Federal Trade Commission website and "filing a complaint. They can also file a complaint via the Southland BBB in California.
For more information on the practice reunion.com is using, check out their wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reunion.com
By all means, this company doesn't seem to be taking privacy seriously and needs to be forced to the same regulations the rest of the world is espoused to.
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and this was playing with my emotions!!!! He said that he will tell management. Has anybody had the same experience? Is there a class action lawsuit on something like this. If there is or somebody is planning on doing one, count me in! Also, this not fair to my ex-boyfriend either. Maybe he doesn't believe in getting in touch with the past. It's not right to place his or anybody's info without permission. Again, count me in on any class action lawsuits.
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on there. Now when you search for my name, they have the reunion.com link and you click on the link and there is reunion.com and my entire name (first, maiden and married) and
my city and state AND email address! You cannot get ahold of them on the phone, I
tried and it kept me on hold. I am filing a complaint.
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Please help
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I wish everyone best of luck getting their information off. I am still working on mine. In the meantime, the article above suggests complaining to the FTC. However, I am very tempted to contact the firm that invested millions in Reunion.com, Oak Investment Partners (http://www.oakinv.com/contact/)
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