denis bider

Various thoughts

Stardock leaks customers' emails to spam

Posted Apr 22, 2009 at 17:17 by denisbider

Last edited Apr 22, 2009 at 17:30 by denisbider

ripoff security

I rarely, if ever, use PayPal.

The other time I used it to buy a copy of Demigod (by Gas Powered Games), a fairly simple-minded but graphically rich third-person combat game.

Within days of placing that order, I started to get spam to my PayPal address, where I never received spam before.

I only used the PayPal address in the order and license process, and never used it for anything else with them.

That's a filthy, filthy, filthy business practice. Either someone at Stardock who has access to order emails is covertly selling them, or Stardock themselves are doing so.

It is illegal, too.

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Showing 5 out of 5 comments, oldest first:

Comment on Apr 22, 2009 at 20:43 by Unknown

Stardock takes its customers' privacy extremely seriously and has one of the most stringent privacy policies around. We do not sell our customer data to anyone and our employees do not either. It's possible that a spammer simply deducted a valid email address - they do this all the time. I can guarantee that your allegations against Stardock are entirely false.

Brian Clair
Director - Publishing
Stardock

Comment on Apr 22, 2009 at 20:56 by Anonymous

Let me guess, you created your very own "stardock@*" address for the purchase, and then wonder why you're getting SPAM to an address that is most likely used in any dictionary guessing spambot on any domain. Do you buy stuff through Steam too? Do you wonder why you get spam to "steam@*"? I am a long time Stardock customer and have never had any SPAM issues coming from them (granted my e-mail address used looks like an MD5 hash.). Maybe fact check something before you post it next time?

Comment on Apr 22, 2009 at 21:21 by denisbider

Heh heh :)

You guys are both Stardock representatives who are monitoring blogs via Google alerts.

I'm not getting spam to the stardock@* email address. I'm getting it to the PayPal address which I used to place this order just recently. I have previously not used PayPal in more than 6 months, and have never received spam at this address.

You guys sold my PayPal address to spammers, and you are posting fake anonymous "customer" propaganda within hours of me posting this on my relatively non-frequented blog. Lame - lame - lame.

Comment on Apr 23, 2009 at 15:43 by Spencer

You have no proof for your allegations. Brian made it clear our policy and that e-mails are not sold to 'spammers' or anything like that.

-Spencer
Stardock

Comment on Apr 23, 2009 at 16:11 by denisbider

In my experience, accusing people of "having no proof" is tantamount to admitting that you're guilty.

What I have is circumstancial evidence, and it is strong enough to point the blame at you.

Policy, shmolicy. Whatever your _actual_ policy is - and I agree, it would be dumb for a U.S. company to knowingly sell customer emails to spammers - a "policy" is not what prevents disgruntled employees from pilfering customers' emails. Good security practices do.

My guess is, you should be reviewing your internal procedures, rather than harrassing a blogger (and a customer, at that!) for telling you the truth.