Getting "spam" from a local Company

Ctrl Alt Del

Hi,

I have an email address created for supplier 1 in format of supplier1@mydomain.ie
Today,got an email from a third party company,with some special offers to buy but they sent it to my "supplier1" account and not to my general business account,such as myname@mydomain.ie ,as in business card.

Called them and explained that my solicitor will send over a letter.
Also,i called my supplier and asked how my unique email address end it up on their emailing list !

From your experience,what i should do next !?

Thanks in advance...

garbeth

Is sending spam illegal? Tell them to remove you from their mailing list and don't do business with them

rubberdiddies

If you have a business email address used for business purposes my understanding is that it is perfectly legal for other businesses to send you marketing material

moc moc a moc

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

my solicitor will send over a letter

What for?

What can a solicitor possibly do against someone sending you an email?

Block them and move on with your life. You can't win this fight.

PrzemoF

moc moc a moc wrote: »

What for?

What can a solicitor possibly do against someone sending you an email?

Block them and move on with your life. You can't win this fight.

Hmmm... fighting with an anonymous spammer is a lost fight, but if someone is passing your details without your permission is a different matter to me. However I'm not sure how it works for company details - probably there is no data protection at all.

I have a blog and some dirty admins are trying to post spam comments with links to get better search engine rankings. When I see that the link is to a legit company I like to send once in a while an email to that company informing them that their IT department or IT subcontractor is using dirty tricks.

oscarBravo

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

Called them and explained that my solicitor will send over a letter.

I wouldn't have done that.

From your experience,what i should do next !?

Contact the Data Protection Commissioner and make a complaint. Sharing your email address with a third party without your consent is illegal.

rubberdiddies wrote: »

If you have a business email address used for business purposes my understanding is that it is perfectly legal for other businesses to send you marketing material

wat

AnCatDubh

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

From your experience,what i should do next !?

In my experience i'd try to unsubscribe if there was a link, i'd delete it, and if i can't unsubscribe then i'd use my email client to report spam/blacklist the sender. That should clear any future occurances. Then i'd forget about it.

The guidance on the data protection commissioners website may be of help in understanding what can and can't be done.

The above is if you are considering it a spam issue which most of the posters on this thread appear to consider it to be.

While it may be spam in any event, but depending on what has been shared, it may be a more significant breach of your rights under data protection -- assuming the email address and/or any other data shared is personal rather than business related.

If you are thus concerned over what has happened, you should make contact with the office of the data protection commissioner. They are nice folk and offer advice on any data protection matter so my advice would be, if you are that motivated to follow it through, then give them a buzz and see where you stand.

I don't think there is any damages financial or otherwise due to you out of such a matter so you'd be likely be investing your time on a point of principle or in taking the higher moral ground on the issue. On the other hand, if a successful prosecution ensues then the company sending the email may be liable for fines.

Good luck with it.

rubberdiddies

oscarBravo wrote: »

I wouldn't have done that. Contact the Data Protection Commissioner and make a complaint. Sharing your email address with a third party without your consent is illegal.



wat

in practice, as i understand it and have seen it applied in companies, the lines are somewhat blurred when it comes to business to business marketing.

from the OPs email, he put down his address as supplier1@mydomain.ie
i inferred from this that it was a business address.

i have seen this applied in business where 'Business A' builds up a database of leads by looking through magazines, online etc.

'business a' then sends an e-mail to 'business b' asking them if they want to buy product/service from 'business a'

now i'm assuming the OP is talking about B2B marketing emails!

EDIT: i should add that the business email address in question must already be in the public domain somewhere as a business address

Ctrl Alt Del

Hi, thanks.

I never done business with the third party company !
I've got an email from the supplier1:
"they got hold of our database and i've asked them to remove your email from their listing list".
Since then,I've got another email from an UK based company,never dealt with before, using the same email supplier1 account !

I'm shocked,angry and scared...reported "loss" of my business card .

I'm wondering how they got hold of their database:by hacking on to online back-end system OR by some1 human leaving & taking the information with him/them ?

oscarBravo

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

"they got hold of our database..."

That's a clear breach of the Data Protection Act. Not only are they not allowed to deliberately share such data; they're required by law to protect it from third parties "getting hold" of it.

If you haven't already, contact the DPC.