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Email Unsubscription Service Unroll.me To Close To EU Users Saying it Can't Comply With GDPR (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on from the good-riddance? dept.

Unroll.me, a company that has, for years, used the premise useful "email unsubscription" service to gain access to people's email inboxes in order to data-mine the contents for competitive intelligence -- and controversially flog the gleaned commercial insights to the likes of Uber -- is to stop serving users in Europe ahead of a new data protection enforcement regime incoming under GDPR, which applies from May 25. From a report: In a section on its website about the regional service shutdown, the company writes that "unfortunately we can no longer support users from the EU as of the 23rd of May," before asking whether a visitor lives in the EU or not. Clicking 'no' doesn't seem to do anything but clicking 'yes' brings up another info screen where Unroll.me writes that this is its "last month in the EU" -- because it says it will be unable to comply with "all GDPR requirements" (although it does not specify which portions of the regulation it cannot comply with).

5 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. One down... by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One useless parasite down. That's a start.

    Go, GDPR!

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    No sig today...
    1. Re:One down... by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Exactly. This is one law/regulation that's not only working as designed, it's working as intended!

  2. Big surprise? by nitehawk214 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How can anyone be surprised that a company with full access to someone's email misuses the information they receive.

    Why is anyone still using the service after they got caught lying?

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    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    1. Re:Big surprise? by ranton · · Score: 4, Informative

      Why is anyone still using the service after they got caught lying?

      I didn't see any mention of Unroll.me lying to their customers. They are a free service, so they are going to make money off of their customers' data. If you are curious about how, you go read their Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. This is from their Privacy Policy before details of their business model went public:

      We also collect non-personal information - data in a form that does not permit direct association with any specific individual ... For example, when you use our services, we may collect data from and about the "commercial electronic mail messages" and "transactional or relationship messages" (as such terms are defined in the CAN-SPAM Act (15 U.S.C. 7702 et. seq.) that are sent to your email accounts.

      This clearly states they will look at advertisements (commercial electronic mail message) and receipts / order updates ("transactional or relationship messages) in your inbox in order collect data to sell to 3rd parties. So where were they lying? You may not like their business model but don't accuse them of doing things they didn't do.

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      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  3. By can't, they mean don't want to by Mascot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    access to people's email inboxes in order to data-mine the contents for competitive intelligence -- and controversially flog the gleaned commercial insights to the likes of Uber

    It's almost as if that's exactly the sort of undisclosed behavior the GDPR is designed to combat...

    Granted, I suppose my subject is a bit unfair. If violating privacy is your primary business model, I guess "can't" is technically accurate.