Recruiter Daily Spam Update

As I see it, one of the most important roles of a blog is to open discourse regarding issues in particular industries.

I’m not a qualified journalist or researcher, and never have claimed to be. But I believe in discussion, and I’m willing to attempt to engage my readers in such discussion – even at the risk of my views being exposed as somehow invalid.

A couple of days ago, I opened discourse on the issue of spam. Please Support Our Spam. It seems my views upset the folks at Recruiter Daily, and I got this dressing down from them today:

In response to your blog post about Recruiter Daily’s ‘spam’, I’d just like to clarify our position (which is completely above board in the eyes of ACMA).

When you and our other 11,600+ subscribers signed up to receive RD you knew it relied on advertising for revenue. That’s how we provide the service for free.

Our privacy policy stated then, as now, that subscribers’ details would only be used to contact them about our service and our affiliates. The fact that we haven’t sent any messages on our advertisers’ behalf until this week doesn’t change the fact that we have your permission to do so. We do not, and never will, share subscribers’ personal information with any third parties.

If you really feel that the inconvenience of receiving a maximum of one advertising email per fortnight (which is fewer than other free publications send) is not worth the value of what Recruiter Daily provides then you’re welcome to unsubscribe.

Yikes. For a minute there, I was victim to a very real flashback. Me. The Principal’s Office. High School. As I read, I waited anxiously for news of the length of my detention or dreaded yard duty.

But it prompted me to take a further look at this issue of giving subscriber details to third parties.

My delving uncovered this:

Despite assurances from Recruiter Daily that “We do not, and never will, share subscribers’ personal information with any third parties.” here they are touting my details to anyone willing to pay: Advertise with us.

Email our subscribers

Be the sole subject of an email sent to our 11,000+ subscribers. You decide on the content of the email, including graphics and links.

You can also tailor your message for subscribers in specific states within Australia (contact us for a state-by-state breakdown).

• Email all subscribers: $5000.00 (11,000+ recipients)
• Partial mailing: 50c per email ($2500 minimum)

My details feel like they’ve been pimped.  My details have more dignity than that.

To make matters worse, their claims that the terms of subscription alluded to occasionally giving out my details to advertisers were, well, plainly, incorrect.

You see, I have subscribed to RD for three years now. My Agreement was that affiliate publications of RD Shortlist, Workplace Express and OHS Alert. could have access to my details. My agreement said nothing about selling my details to advertisers. The agreement to have your personal details given to advertisers by RD on subscription is a new agreement. I, and I assume many others of RD’s subcribers, was never informed of these new terms.

Spam is unsolicited email. My claims stand.