Breach of Privacy
|
by
Munzly
10. Sep 2007 @ 05:56:43 |
Comments: Show all comments
The birthday calendar was added as a response to wishes of our bloggers. Of course we cannot satisfy the wishes of every individual blogger, so we listen to what the majority wants. In responding to the desires of the majority, it is possible that in so doing we upset a minority.
We would like to remind you that the birthday calendar is strictly a friends-only feature - only the people you choose as friends will see your birthday. And user ages have always been displayed on the 'Users online' box. Of course, you can select a fake birth date if you wish.
Birthday reminders are an integral part of almost all of the major internet communities - mySpace, bebo, etc all have them. We, like the aforementioned communities, feel that it is a useful tool in creating a friendlier community atmosphere.
At the moment the birthday reminders are not optional, however since there are some bloggers who do not like it, the tech team has informed me that it will be optional at some point in the future. However we cannot give a specific timeframe for this.
We apologise for the inconvenience caused.
 | la_spice [Member] 2007-09-10 @ 12:30 |
I'd like to agree with my blogfriends and add the following:
The point that it is a friends only feature is fine but think it through - someone notes a friends birthday - innocently sends a public greeting and voila!
The point that "the birthday calendar was added as a response to wishes of our bloggers" - what percentage of bloggers have requested this facility?
Finally - real friends let each other know when it's their birthday if and when they want to thus creating the "friendlier community atmosphere" of their own choosing!
Marian Barker (aka La_spice)
 | Rampage team 2007-09-10 @ 12:50 |
Like I said, it will be an option sometime in the future. In the meantime, you can just choose a fake birth date.
As for the percentage, I don't have access to that sort of information, but rest assured that it was enough for the powers that be to approve it.
 | menhir [Member] http://www.myword.blog.co.uk 2007-09-10 @ 19:38 |
Are you really asking us to contravene the regulations that we signed into and provide false information - that is disgraceful! This is an amazingly incompetent proposal.
| Munzly [Member] http://poppycock.blog.co.uk/ 2007-09-10 @ 20:53 |
In my opinion blog.de and blog.co.uk have broken the privacy code and possibly European law. The suggestion of making this feature an option some time in the future is not good enough. You should disable the birthday calendar code as from now. That is with immediate effect.
| Munzly [Member] http://poppycock.blog.co.uk/ 2007-09-11 @ 12:50 |
I hope you have taken note of all the people that say your response is not enough and that the birthday calendar should be ceased at once.
 | MrFlighty [Member] 2007-09-10 @ 13:42 |
Please note that selecting a fake birth date that would be contravening Blog.co.uk's Terms of Service 3)Personal Data where it states that '...submitting proper, lawful and true data' and '...abides to maintain his personal data up to date and accurate'
2007-09-10 @ 14:35
Good point and as I said above I believe that the disclosure of people's birth dates (without their agreement) is also a violation of the TOS. I personally don't consider the answer from Admin satisfactory and it is not a trivial issue, but typical of how things are implemented here with no consultation. Vasco says this will change in the future - we will see.
| menhir [Member] http://www.myword.blog.co.uk 2007-09-10 @ 19:36 |
Birth date being *eventually optional* does not deal with the issue, it sidelines our genuine concerns.
1. There should be no *eventual* about it, that is unacceptable - what kind of time scale is that? If we accept that as a default position we give up our personal data protection rights by default too and that is not an option.
2. Our rights to privacy should not have been touched in the first place so opting in or out is also unacceptable.
3. We signed into a contract with accords with the data protection terms of the E.U. as much as here at home in the U.K. that no personal/private data will be passed to third parties.
4. Now you are choosing to override our rights and wishes to privacy. I am not giving you permission to give my personal information out to anyone, and that includes people on my friends list.
Your "suggestion" is unacceptable.
2007-09-10 @ 11:57