News bit-tech and Custom PC launch 2010 reader survey

I still believe that there is regulation somewhere stating that you have to provide an option to opt-out of marketing immediately, and not when that marketing starts appearing in users' inboxes.

Take a look here: http://www.out-law.com/page-5657

Note especially this section:
Another equally acceptable practice would be to collect the customer's details, at the same time presenting them with a data protection notice which is drafted to state that by providing their details the user consents to the receipt of unsolicited marketing emails. ...

At the same time the user must be provided with an opportunity to opt-out of their details being used for this method. The best way of achieving this is to include an opt-out tick box as a part of the data protection notice.

 

Also see this: http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/topic_specific_guides/marketing.aspx

This survey is neither sale or negotiation of a sale, nor is there an option to refuse marketing during collection of the information

 

Well, all I can say is that the company decided to have one privacy and one data collection policy for all the publications, and it had the lawyers look at the wording and it was given the green light.

To some extent I am wearing my company hat in this thread, and internally I had strong opinions about the policy and its negative impact.

 

Also miffed at the automatic opt-in. Still, I just hope they don't send too many SMS messages to the rather random mobile number I typed in!

 

As long as these comments are passed along to those in charge, I'm happier (although still not answering the survey.

 

Maybe the answer isn't to go to Corsair UK, but to Corsair PR itself. I would be amazed if Corsair didn't have a presence or a representative in every developed country.

Agreed with everyone else on the intrusive, and frankly, irrelevant personal questions. Is Dennis expanding their empire to ID theft? Much of this information would be of great benefit to an ID thief.
I didn't press the Submit button.

 

Meh, if they want my name, address and telephone number there's plenty of places they can find that information. The spam filter on my e-mail account catches the vast majority of crap as well.

 

My two cents......

I have entered several Bit-Tech/Custom PC competitions as well as surveys and the only communication I have had from them is the Daily newsletter (sometimes twice), a response if I win (I won a CPC subscription) and now and again I recieve an email from CustomPC/Dell.

I 100% understand if people dont want to submit their details but in my opinion Dennis does not misuse this information.

Now off I go to fill out this survey.

 

Yeah, I get it. But it is backward looking for an internet-based digital magazine with readers from around the globe to limit their prizes to a select few of their readers based on geography. It happens every time with every competition, and I would have thought with our "global economy" it wouldn't have been difficult work out a global competition, even if it was limited to "developed" countries, or whatever label you want to use. Why can't European readers enter? Or American? I could understand if it excluded readers from Burkina Faso.

With a limited pool of respondents (especially given the personal information requirements has put many off submitting) and some UK-centric questions, the results aren't going to be an accurate representation of Bit-Tech's readers as a whole.

 

Spent 5 mins filling it out then got to this little gem, now I don't mind the odd spammy email, but SMS and Phone?

No Thanks

 

As well as the explanation Alex gave, it would complicate things a tremendous amount. Time is money and I'd rather the guys spent more time producing quality content for the site than going through a list of countries deciding which ones are 'developed' enough to be included in the competition or not.

The pool of respondents is limitless. As has been said, anyone from anywhere in the world can complete the survey, they just won't get entered into the prize draw.

Personally, I didn't complete the survey just to win the prize (though I might have if they were offering a million pounds, but they're not), because I know the probability that I will is slim to none. I completed it because I like this site and want to help them out by giving some feedback. If everyone else did the same we wouldn't have the need for so much complaining. You either want to complete the survey or you don't.

 

True.

Except by submitting the survey you are giving your implicit permission for them to spam you via email, post, phone and SMS. And to pass the information they have to their partners to do the same.

I do want to complete the survey. But I also want an opt-out on the Dennis 'privacy' policy.

 

Well, it sits in a database somewhere,

Wheres the opt out dennis? Wheres the opt out?

 

I was going to complain about non-UK readers being snubbed, but after reading how personal the quiz gets I'm kind of glad us outsiders are discouraged from participating.

 

If you don't want your personal data entered, the fields accept anything.

I put "No thank you" for both the phone number fields and the address fields and it accepted it. I'm happy for anyone to use my email though.

I'm happy to help with research, but not if you're going to phone/mail me junk.

 

I submitted anyway, but giving you all that personal info didn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Mind you, I haven't given it anyone else, so I'll be chalking up any new post/phone/SMS spam to Dennis.

 

only idiots will put their real phone, cell numbers and postcode in the form

 

I filled all the survey until the page where they ask about ALL your personal data. I quit inmediately.

Sad.

 

But its not straightforward.


No opt out box = no info = no reply to questionaire.

Just include an option for email so people can give their data if they win. Goddamn it.