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Author Topic: "Privacy" violation at GmailHelpForum  (Read 4158 times)

6DecadesOld

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"Privacy" violation at GmailHelpForum
« on: May 11, 2017, 12:01 AM »
I have to put those quotation marks around the vocabulary 'privacy' because there is an actual question whether Google legally classifies your email address as private.

Why I am posting here is because I really am wondering what sort of opinion regular folks might have of this event.

I suppose a volunteer on the Support Staff was so frustrated with me that he just couldn't control himself and the last post he did before he finished that work session on Friday of last week was to post my email address in a separate post with an odd reference to direct mailing.

5 hours after he did it I became aware of it and about 12 hours after I became aware of it and asked to have it removed it was finally removed.  It was up there for about 17 hours.

Of course, there is a thread over there about the whole event.  I have not received any apology from any Google employee, nor even the individual that did it, and that same individual has been working in his status as a Rising Star ever since and it seems the event is viewed as a non-event by the Google employee that is responsible for those volunteers.  I only draw that conclusion because that volunteer is still in his usual role on the site.  It gives the impression that Google, at that level of management, does not care.

So I am posting here to ask the opinion of folks that have the time to read this and that further have the time to post an answer: What do you make of this event?

Should I be upset?

I might add one further note; I kept the individual's identity off the board in the main thread where the event has been discussed, until about 24 hours ago.  It finally got too much to have people posting that they needed details and people sending me messages asking for detail and so on.  So I finally showed the public there what the screenshot looked like with my email account name removed, of course.  There is no doubt about the act being malicious.  It is obvious.

I do not remember what the rules are here about posting links, so if the admin/moderator allows me to do so, I will provide a link to a thread over there that covers the whole business.

Thank you, everyone, for your attention.
Do you still have your TRS-80?

KynloStephen66515

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Re: "Privacy" violation at GmailHelpForum
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2017, 12:15 AM »
Feel free to post a (non-obfustigated) link :)

6DecadesOld

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Re: "Privacy" violation at GmailHelpForum
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2017, 12:22 AM »
Thank you and I hope this is non-obfustigated, as I have to confess to a vocabulary malfunction in my brain on that one:

https://productforum...zFCyj59_c/discussion
Do you still have your TRS-80?

tomos

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Re: "Privacy" violation at GmailHelpForum
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2017, 01:14 AM »
Well, I'm shocked -- and I would be upset -- but that's not necessarily a recommendation:
I mean I would follow up on it: but putting lots of time, money, and energy into it, I dont know will that bring much for you. But that's a personal decision.

Also very surprised about google not considering your email address as private within that forum:
https://lh3.googleus...%2BNot%2BPrivate.jpg
Tom

wraith808

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Re: "Privacy" violation at GmailHelpForum
« Reply #4 on: May 11, 2017, 07:23 AM »
Thank you and I hope this is non-obfustigated, as I have to confess to a vocabulary malfunction in my brain on that one:

https://productforum...zFCyj59_c/discussion

-6DecadesOld (May 11, 2017, 12:22 AM)

I think he meant non-obfuscated (or perhaps was making a riff on that?), so you didn't miss anything.

KynloStephen66515

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Re: "Privacy" violation at GmailHelpForum
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2017, 10:43 PM »
Thank you and I hope this is non-obfustigated, as I have to confess to a vocabulary malfunction in my brain on that one:

https://productforum...zFCyj59_c/discussion

-6DecadesOld (May 11, 2017, 12:22 AM)

I think he meant non-obfuscated (or perhaps was making a riff on that?), so you didn't miss anything.

Yes...I totally meant to do that....Honest! ;D

6DecadesOld

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Re: "Privacy" violation at GmailHelpForum
« Reply #6 on: May 12, 2017, 05:48 AM »
tomos, your question about why I am willing to spend the time and money to ask for some sort of accountability is a difficult one.  Some reason I hadn't really asked myself that since this all started and I saw your question yesterday, I think, and had trouble with an answer.  But then something happened a few hours ago and I have some bits of the answer.  It is in two parts, and I will place the link here instead of copying everything here and cluttering up the thread with my thoughts.

The first post that link should take you to was discovery number three of a canned response that contract worker fed to a Google customer (I refer to everyone using Gmail as a customer.)  - -  and then a bit after that you will see another post further down where I went even further with my thoughts, and those are a tad bit of an answer to your question, tomos.

https://productforum...v9FcQqU/wP1voMugAQAJ

EDITI wrote that incorrectly.  The second post I wanted you to look at was in the thread where I found canned response number 2, here:

https://productforum...s4hzoaQ/P-IA30CkAQAJ
Do you still have your TRS-80?
« Last Edit: May 12, 2017, 06:28 AM by 6DecadesOld »

tomos

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Re: "Privacy" violation at GmailHelpForum
« Reply #7 on: May 12, 2017, 06:41 AM »
^ @6DecadesOld, I will have a look when I get a chance (time short right now), but it was more me thinking out loud, and saying it was something for you to think about and decide for yourself.
It's easy to spend a *lot* of time and energy in that kind of situation without thinking about it beforehand, so it's good you've done that :up:
Tom