If you’re interested in signing up as an Uber driver, a friend or driver can have the site text you a mutually beneficial referral code. Some consumers in Washington state reported receiving referral text messages from the ride-hailing app that they didn’t ask for, though, with no way to opt out, and now the company and the state have settled those charges. [More]
opt out
Michaels Buys Mailing Lists, Intellectual Property Of Hancock Fabrics
By 8.4.16
When the original intellectual property auction for the remaining assets of the former sewing and craft chain Hancock Fabrics concluded, the winning bidder was a company called ADMACO, Inc. Who? That turned out to be an alias for Michaels, the nationwide craft supplies chain, which will take over the Hancock Fabrics trademarks, and the 10 million names on its mailing list. [More]
Reminder: You Should Opt Out Of Starbucks Card Mandatory Arbitration Now. Here’s How
By 4.15.16
This week, the new terms and conditions for Starbucks cards — the gift and stored-value cards that you can use to rack up rewards in their newly revamped reward program — went into effect. That means existing users have until May 12 to opt out of the chain’s normal requirement that card users waive their right to sue the company. [More]
23AndMe Decides To Not Enroll Users Automatically In Relative-Matching Service
By 9.17.14
23AndMe, the DIY DNA-sequencing service, wanted to make a change to its privacy settings. Since the Food and Drug Administration stopped the company from offering and marketing information about customers’ health and vulnerability to certain diseases and medications last year, the company has turned to marketing itself as a service to figure out your ethnic origins and find hidden distant relatives. That sounds fun…until it destroys your family, anyway. [More]
Yellow Pages Works Hard To Make Sure Non-Customer Stays Happy Non-Customer
By 1.8.13
Maurice isn’t an anti-phone book zealot, but he doesn’t need one, either. A few months ago, an unwanted one showed up on his porch. Instead of saving it for a power or Internet service outage or sticking it under a wobbly table leg, he decided to contact the company that delivered it and let them know that they didn’t need to waste any more trees or time delivering phone books to him. The message didn’t quite take. Unwanted phone books are pretty low on his list of problems in life, but that’s an easy problem to solve. Right? [More]
Verizon Wireless Will Watch Everything You Do If You Don't Opt Out
By 11.17.11
Verizon Wireless is sending emails to customers this week informing them that the company will now begin storing their browsing history, location, app usage data and more, in the name of providing “more relevant” mobile ads. The company says it won’t “share any information that identifies you personally,” and the email includes instructions for customers who want to opt out of the tracking program. [More]
Please Stop Sending My 16-Year-Old Daughter Credit Card Solicitations
By 3.22.11
Theoretically, a 16-year-old shouldn’t be on the mailing list for unsolicited credit card offers. Neither should a 13-year-old. Yet companies just can’t stop sending solicitations to J’s teenage daughter–even after J. specifically opted her out of the offers. Permanently. Or so the family thought. Now they’ve started up again, and J. isn’t sure how to make them stop. [More]
You Want Your Real Name Associated With Your Etsy Purchase History, Right?
By 3.15.11
Have you ever made a purchase on the crafty marketplace, Etsy? If you have, consider checking your privacy settings, since the site is beginning to have more in common with Facebook than an old-fashioned online bazaar. The company behind the site managed to annoy sellers, buyers, and more or less the entire Internet by changing its privacy policy earlier this year.
The changes allow users to search for their friends and marginal acquaintances’ Etsy usernames and feedback histories by e-mail address. Not all that different from most social networking sites… but most people who sign up to use Etsy do so to buy things, not to socialize and spy on what their friends are buying. Now, the full names of users who provided them to the site are available to the public and indexed by search engines by default. Users must opt out of these exciting new privacy-defying features.
You Might Be In Serious $%#@ For Refusing To Be TSA Screened
By 11.15.10
Did you assume that once you got to the airport, if the TSA was doing something you didn’t like, you could just opt-out and decide not to fly? The answer is — nope. According to CNN and the TSA, a ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals compels all passengers to be screened, whether they fly or not. Refusing screening will result in being denied access to secure airport areas and may result in civil penalties. [More]
Seattle Residents Will Soon Be Able To Opt Out Of Getting Yellow Pages
By 10.12.10
Back in May, we asked readers if they still used the White Pages and an overwhelming 87% of you said no. Soon, those of you in Seattle who no longer use the phone book will be able to opt out of receiving the annual doorstop. [More]
Chase Approves Transaction Anyway After Customer Declines Overdraft Protection
By 9.27.10
Paul opted not to sign up for Chase’s overdraft fee trap–oh wait, they call it “protection”–but Chase happily ignored this fact and approved a transaction anyway, which led to a $34 overdraft fee that they refuse to reverse. The loophole they’re using to get around Paul’s opt-out is that the vendor was someone he’d authorized in the past, and therefore this new transaction isn’t protected from the bank’s “protection” fee. [More]
How To Opt Out Of Apple's iAds Service, Eventually
By 6.22.10
If you don’t want Apple collecting data on you and using it to target you with ads starting July 1st, you can opt out from “any device running iOS 4,” says AppleInsider. The opt-out is automatic when you hit up http://oo.apple.com from an iOS 4 device, and as far as I can tell you can’t undo it, so don’t click the link unless you really want to opt out. Also, it’s not working at the moment. [More]
Franken and Schumer To CEO: We Hate Facebook's Privacy Changes
By 4.27.10
Recent and proposed changes to Facebook’s information sharing policies have Senators Franken (D-MN) and Schumer (D-NY) a little irritated. They’ve penned a letter, along with Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Mark Begich (D-AK), asking Facebook to reconsider their new opt-out procedure, and to take further steps to keep user’s personal details, such as their interests and friend lists, private unless they chose to share them. [More]
Google Says It Will Ask Early Buzz Users To Doublecheck Their Privacy Settings
By 2.23.10
Wired reports that Google will offer a do-over to early users of Buzz, the social network service that has earned the company criticism and a class-action lawsuit. [More]
Direct Marketing Association's Opt Out Website Is A Joke
By 9.24.09
Jonathan wanted to opt out everyone in his family from direct marketing campaigns, something the DMA promises is possible via their website. Surprise! It turns out the DMA doesn’t really care so much about whether or not you want to be taken off any mailing lists, and they have a rotten website and poor security protocols to prove it.
Google Invites Privacy-Concerned Users To Move To Remote Village
By 8.12.09
The Onion reports that Google’s new privacy policy requires users who wish to opt out to relocate to a remote ghetto and abandon all contact with the outside world. (Photo: kalle svensson)
Tell Eerily Resurrected Circuit City To Step Off In One Easy Step
By 5.27.09
Just like the ending of a horror movie, Circuit City has gone and plunged its soil-covered claw from its grave. Its site may have new owners, but that doesn’t mean it’s lost all of your tasty personal info.
