Ridiculous. Anyway, of course many providers don't delete information, and even if they do, if their laptop is seized by LE it's a no-brainer to access deleted emails, TER passwords, and everything else.

I can't believe something like that happened.

rotflmao

Providers are hurting for business, time to negotiate on rates ..

providers like that one who send mass mailer, news letter and some who even post way too much on this board are hurting for business so it is time to negotiate rates for 30min deals.

Recently I was able to get 50% off from a top rated provider, she just asked that I don't write a review which I didn't but told all my buddies about it

I sent her a email saying WTF She responded that she was very sorry and she would not let it happen again. Two months later she did the same thing. I will not say what my reply to that one was lets just say I do not receive email from her anymore.

-- Modified on 9/16/2011 5:51:59 PM

Remarkably, guys had their legit business and home emails in there, like @att.com, @saic.com, @comcast.net, etc.  I was stunned.  Went out to like 500 recipients.  I emailed the agency and they said, "Sorry, didn't mean to do that..."  Had a very popular indy girl do it too recently with hundreds of recipient's emails.  She got very defensive about the flak she got for it.  Yeah, once your stuff is out there, it's out there.  And once it's out there, it's out of your control.  As much as establishments and indies want to assure you that your information is safe, it's up to the vigilance of that person or agency to protect it.  

The more providers and agencies I talk to about this kind of thing the more surprised I am to learn how few of them really implement any sort of regimented data security, that is, keeping your privacy data safe.  Almost always nothing offshore (out of US jurisdiction), often no encrypted storage, open emails, wide open FTP for web site maintenance, unprotected (not HTTPS) contact web form submissions (where you divulge all your private information in the clear), usually no IP or MAC masquerading.  Then there's the beloved email Copy All button...

I guess I don't understand the belief that your private information is not retained.  Why wouldn't it be?  The persistence of this kind of contact information is just as valuable in this trade as in any other.

I have received emails from unknown senders -- I believe they were hobbyists -- with CC to provider email addresses. The senders' accounts were infected and the virus sent bogus emails to addresses in their address book. In these cases, it was not the fault of the hobbyist or provider.

A bunch of people have your fake name and hobby email account. No need to get your panties in a a bunch.