If you actually go on to read their Terms of Service, however, you’ll find that they mention nothing at all about this. What are you trying to find out? Here is our privacy policy (link to privacy policy).” And, we tried to build a really compelling site.”įlixster’s Terms of Service start out by saying: “I can’t believe you really clicked on this. Other sites don’t provide good ways for people to spread the word. “I attribute our success to a combination of both of those,” Greenstein said. (Emphasis ours.)īut such practices are becoming increasingly more common as new and even established web sites look to attract visitors without expensive marketing campaigns and a hefty advertising budget. Such practices might include the automated selection of your email account’s entire address book in order to send a Flixster invitation to all of your contacts. “But the site has also grown due to its aggressive viral marketing practices that have raised the hackles of some potential users. An article in American Venture Magazine following Flixster’s getting $2million in VC funding last month, included the following: But, do they feel compelled to send it? Do they even understand what they are doing?ĭo they feel that their ISP has approved this or even partnered with Flixster because Flixster has placed their ISP’s logo right next to the password prompt?įor their part, Flixster is not only unrepentant about their tactics, but brag about them. Now, who do we blame for all this? Flixster for asking for the password? The user for giving it to them? After all, the user had to take an affirmative action to send you the invitation spam. How do we know they access your account first? Watch what happens if you give them the wrong password: Even though they make you feel as if you have complete control over the process by telling you “On the next page you will be able to select whom to invite”, they already have your contacts by that point. In your name using your email address.Īnd they access your AOL account before you ever get to the next step. Once you give them your password, they grab everyone’s email addresses from your AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail address book, and spam them with the invitation. If you use a Gmail address, you can get the same screen, only with the Gmail logo. Here’s that screen – look how compelling it looks that you should give them your AOL password!: Using AOL as an example, when you first sign up for Flixster using an AOL email address, after you select a username and password, the very next screen prompts you for your AOL password! Oh sure, you enable them to do it – but clearly enough people are unaware of what they are doing that it’s causing a problem.įlixster is getting their AOL (and Hotmail, and Yahoo, and Gmail) passwords! Once you join Flixster, Flixster commandeers your address book – your list of all of your personal contacts in your AOL (or Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail) address book – and sends out an invitation to join Flixster “from” you. We decided to investigate, and here is what we found: Then I got email from someone, a professional contact with an address at AOL, asking me (and everyone else in his address book) to please ignore the invitation to join Flixster which appeared to come from him but which, he said, had actually been sent by Flixster. It was coming not just to me, but to role accounts at our organization – for example These people had really contacted us for support at one time or another, but a generic role account would hardly be a friend to whom you would send an invitation. All the spam was coming from AOL and Hotmail accounts – real AOL and Hotmail accounts of real people, and 2. This note was sent via Flixster by John D ( ) to If you prefer not to receive emails like this, tell us here. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP. The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported.
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