I absolutely hate PrivacyHawk and PrivacyBee PSA/Rant

[Modred189]

These services are such scams.

They purport to enable the user, after paying a fee, to contact all kinds of companies that might have their information and request that it be deleted and unsubscribe the user from any mailing lists.

But, they're are scams.

One of my responsibilities is overseeing the team that processes consumer data rights requests. Now, my company is a $21 billion dollar company here in the United States and much of what we do is consumer facing. Despite this, we really don't get a lot of requests. About 150 a year. That being said, the way to submit a request through an online portal is incredibly easy and we are quite efficient at it.

However, these websites will submit emails to our general privacy inbox with a single line that says "sprinklefairy69@gmail.com has submitted a request that you delete their personal information" or something similar. We can't do CRAP with that. Legally. We have to verify a user's identity before processing, and an email won't hack it under ANY modern privacy law. So I have to respond, letting the customer know that they need to go to our submission portal in order to actually submit a request.

So these numb-nuts are charging people $200 a year (privacy bee) or $50 a year (privacy hawk) do to NOTHING but scan your inbox and send ineffectual emails on your behalf. At the same time, they are generating poor customer experiences for both companies like mine and themselves by doing so.

When I contacted Privacy Hawk, CCing our common customer, they literally said, "sorry we can't provide you with the information you're asking for, we're still building that out and just sending out emails as requests come in."

F those guys.
Don't use these services.
Don't let family pay for them.


/Rant

 

[pendragon1]

stupid people, why cant they just click the unsub link at the bottom of the email!?

 

[sknight]

stupid people, why cant they just click the unsub link at the bottom of the email!?

Just a thought, but privacy best practices state NOT to click any links that show up in emails. Unless the source is 110% trusted.

(Please ignore my "Weaksauce" designation. I'm a veteran of IT and Mobility for over 30 years, I just don't post that often.)

 

[Modred189]

Just a thought, but privacy best practices state NOT to click any links that show up in emails. Unless the source is 110% trusted.

(Please ignore my "Weaksauce" designation. I'm a veteran of IT and Mobility for over 30 years, I just don't post that often.)

That is more of a cyber security best practice than a privacy best practice. But it is the solution required by law, and any threat actors that are putting malware in an unsubscribe link aren't going to listen to PrivacyHawkBee's emails either.

 

[GoldenTiger]

These services are such scams.

They purport to enable the user, after paying a fee, to contact all kinds of companies that might have their information and request that it be deleted and unsubscribe the user from any mailing lists.

But, they're are scams.

One of my responsibilities is overseeing the team that processes consumer data rights requests. Now, my company is a $21 billion dollar company here in the United States and much of what we do is consumer facing. Despite this, we really don't get a lot of requests. About 150 a year. That being said, the way to submit a request through an online portal is incredibly easy and we are quite efficient at it.

However, these websites will submit emails to our general privacy inbox with a single line that says "sprinklefairy69@gmail.com has submitted a request that you delete their personal information" or something similar. We can't do CRAP with that. Legally. We have to verify a user's identity before processing, and an email won't hack it under ANY modern privacy law. So I have to respond, letting the customer know that they need to go to our submission portal in order to actually submit a request.

So these numb-nuts are charging people $200 a year (privacy bee) or $50 a year (privacy hawk) do to NOTHING but scan your inbox and send ineffectual emails on your behalf. At the same time, they are generating poor customer experiences for both companies like mine and themselves by doing so.

When I contacted Privacy Hawk, CCing our common customer, they literally said, "sorry we can't provide you with the information you're asking for, we're still building that out and just sending out emails as requests come in."

F those guys.
Don't use these services.
Don't let family pay for them.


/Rant

Um, why is this thread in Intel processors? Shouldn't it be in genmay?

 

[Modred189]

Um, why is this thread in Intel processors? Shouldn't it be in genmay?

Ah... I definitly posted it in Genmay...