Editorial opinion Oct 2008

POTENTIAL DANGER IN BULK EMAIL LISTS

Everyone is so busy, elections and financial worries.. It is not surprising that some major 'side issues' which create added problems slip by us.    Personal safety in one's home is an ever important issue, especially in rural areas.

Bulk lists of the email addresses of people in one's community (or group) makes for convenient and rapid distribution of information; but how that list is used is critical -- everyone on the bulk list must have given permission for their name to be shown.

Then if the list is distributed to everyone on it, the security of everybody's email address is dependent on the ethics and awareness of every individual on that list.

The "Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007"  [*1], in place from April this year, endeavours to ensure that even the 'not-too-obvious' dangers are avoided.  While new and as yet unclear in many ways, it appears illegal to gather and distribute email addresses that (see clause 6ii) "assists or enables a person to obtain dishonestly a financial advantage or gain from another person". 

[*1]  http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2007/0007/latest/DLM405134.html

 VillagePRESS recently received a massive list. We are sure it was not the intention of anyone to put those on the list in danger, but such a possibility needs to be considered when such a list is sent to each email recipient with the emails of everyone else attached. 

If the list was held by one named person in the community and all communications went through that person under Bcc: -- "blind carbon copy" (and), the rest of the list would be seen by each individual as "undisclosed recipients" -- the list should be relatively safe. 

Of course each person -- at Law -- should specifically authorise the listing of their email address on an "open" list..

So what are the dangers?

Email addresses can be copied and sold to a 'firm' -- which then on-selling multiply times  without concern for the intention of those purchasers.

The copied address will then receive spam and scams from all over the world.  Accommodation providers are one group which gets inundated with apparent guest bookings in what are scams -- costing many 'new players' substantial financial losses….. (See www.villagepress.co.nz  which provides a service in this area used world wide.)

An unsolicited email can bring with it a virus that installs open access to your computer -- as so many brilliant but unscrupulous IT brains have already illustrated; and we are far from any peak in knowledge in this area…. Do you bank online???

Back to the rural community situation.  With a list of local names attached to the email addresses and a telephone book,  burglars can find an address, stop outside, and phone to see if anyone is at home…. "goodbye pork pie".  

In our own Neighbourhood Watch group we have a list of neighbour's phone numbers preceded by a male and female name regardless of the actual presence of either and no surname -- we know each other.  In this way, a lone resident is not obvious if someone else should get a copy.

Not only the gathers of the list but anyone using it could be at risk -- VillagePRESS will take this risk once to send notice of this editorial for each person's own awareness.  What each then does is solely up to them.

-- PER Managing-Editor 

 NB:  These matters may be on the thoughts of others .  Do share your thoughts with us – with or without your name being published (but your identity must known to Editor).

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