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The Register Email Address Blunder

Posted by Unknown on from the flog-thyself-in-penance dept.

First time accepted submitter Tim99 writes "This morning I got an email from The Register informing me that they have sent 3,521 of their readers the names and e-mail addresses of 46,000 other readers. Considering their frequent rants about security this has got to be a major FAIL." El Reg writes: "Obviously, this was an error. The two-stage send process that is the norm for all of our mailers was over-looked because someone was in a hurry."

3 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Reported themselves to the ICO by Sockatume · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They've put their money where their mouth is, and reported themselves to the Information Commisioner's Office for the breach.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    1. Re:Reported themselves to the ICO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      How the Reg handles mistakes. I remember the last time I saw one. Which turned out to be my last visits. This was when they inexplicably decided to use the Sensational Headline Format, designed to lure traffic by little lies. Stolen from celeb news, where stuff like "X dies!" turns out to be "X said he died a little inside when..." There was outrage in the comments when the Register started using it. The way the beloved Reg took care of the problem was to remove and censor every single comment which dared to criticize them.

      They are an inherent bunch of cunts.

  2. Re:Probably worse for The Register than their read by sjames · · Score: 3, Interesting

    On the other hand, they probably confessed their error in record time. There can be no claims of downplaying or sweeping things under the rug that usually accompany reports of a data breech.