Google emails Virgin Media subscribers ... about privacy Fuming Virgin Media customers have taken to the telco's forum to complain that their email addresses have been used by Google, instead of being kept private. The customers got a surprise email from Google today, who seemed to think they were all users. The Chocolate Factory is in the middle of updating its users about its new …
Google is a Virgin Media subcontractor, which has contacted Virgin Media customers directly warning them that Google is changing its policies and the Virgin Media customer has to accept that or stop using the service. Except that the Virgin Media customer isn't and never has been subject to Google's privacy policy - so what's up with that.
It's like getting an e-mail from Cisco or Pace.
...for branded email accounts hosted on the Google backend I suspect.
This morning:
"Dear Google user,
We’re getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google." etc
I've only just realised whilst cutting and pasting into this that it was sent to my ntlworld address (and subsequently fetched into my GAFYD-hosted address).
The horror.
Virgin Media delegated their email service to Google. Therefore it is VERY STRAIGHT-FORWARD TO UNDERSTAND exactly why Google have their email addresses, because GOOGLE PROVIDE THE EMAIL ADDRESSES.
Sigh. Are people getting stupider or what?
Did you fail to read the article?
This has nothing to do with "customers upset that email outsourced to Google", this is about "Google shouldn't have emailed Virgin Media customers".
In any case, when you agree to Virgin Media's terms and conditions, you agree to them outsourcing your email. If you choose to use that service, you agree to the service terms and conditions too. If you, as a consumer, did not bother to read them, you do not have the right to be "infuriated".
"You're the one not understanding this."
No you are, because you are reading detail that simply isn't there.
It's over two years since VM outsourced their email to Google and informed their users of this and any attended changes in the T&Cs at the time. If people wanted to complain about that they would have done so then.
For the most part people are complaining that they received the mail direct from Google rather than it being passed via VM. Perhaps Google and VM did make an error of judgment in allowing this to happen, but the fact is that Google mailed andybody with an account on *their* servers because *their* terms of service are changing. I suspect most users would rather hear about this now so that they can make an informed decision (ie stop using VM mail and use somebody else to avoid Google) rather than wait months for VM to get round to telling them.
What about the outrage TiVo users are expressing due to the fact that Virgin Media is about to disable all "unofficial" TiVo control apps (except the really simple ones), including the workarounds to use the US TiVo app?
These two threads have > 140 posts, rather than the paltry 21 posts on the thread referenced in the article!
http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/TiVo/New-FW-update-broken-Tivo-Commander-etc/td-p/979929
http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/TiVo/New-Update-coming-31st-Jan-9th-Feb/td-p/990593
If you have the common sense not to use Google for anything then they won't be doing anything to you. And just because you have a VM account that doesn't mean you are tied to using VM's outsourced mail services. There are plenty of other free mail providers out there. Indeed there is no service that Google provide that isn't available free somewhere else.
"A Virgin Media spokesperson told The Register: "Google provides our email platform and we're aware they’ve emailed some Virgin Media Mail users directly. We’re speaking to Google to understand why.""
No, the question is not why have Google mailed Virgin's customers. The correct question is why have Virgin allowed their customers to be exposed to Google without advising them of this. It's the kind of critical information that enables people to make informed decisions about how they use such a service. The Virgin spokesperson's response above misses the point entirely. Customers' privacy was apparently mishandled a long time ago; this event was just a marker which exposed the situation.
My email and my ISP are different things, I want the best internet in terms of speed and reliability I go to the best supplier. I want the best email service in terms of storage, access and other add ons i go to the company best at that. The ISPs realised this long ago and so sold off all the parts of the service like email, webspace, cloud storage etc to specialists. Some Vauxhall (Opal US) vans have Renault engines, some Skodas have Audi engines. You'll never hear your ISP brag about who provides their email platform, and you'll never hear Skoda promote their deal with Audi Engines.
Your Skoda/Audi analogy does not hold water. Skoda and Audi are both part of Volkswagen Group and as such they share a lot more than just the engines. Most VW, Skoda, Audi and Seat cars are variously badge engineered versions of VG cars. If VG thought there was anything to be gained in selling a Skoda suopercar that was no more than a thinly disguised Lambo they would do it.
VM and Google are not part of the same group so this isn't at all similar.
Oh and BTW Skoda do not pretend that they are not a part of the VG group.
I am a VM customer but I also have a Gmail account. I did wonder why I got this message twice and now I know.
Having said that, come on people. Google already knows who you are, how many times you have sex every week, what your favourite brand of chocolate is and what you do with all that olive oil you buy. Trying to prevent Google assimilating you is like trying to order back the tide.
Just relax, it will be less painful that way.
I know how we all like to moan about our ISPs (and how we do like to moan) but I'd stick up for VM. I have been a customer of Blueyonder/Telewest/NTL/VM for a long time (>15 years I think) and while the service did take a nose dive when VM took over, it's been OK recently.
I get one or two 8 hour outages a year but the rest of the time I get good speeds (>30Mb/s down, ~5Mb/s up). I download and upload a lot (no really, A LOT) and I don't get throttled. The service isn't cheap but it's not expensive either and we are all about to be upgraded to double the speed.
All in all, I'm fairly happy with my service from VM.
You don't get throttled? Really? You must have a very special contract with VM which differs from all the other VM customers. VM openly state that they throttle file sharing for *all* customers at "peak times" (which means of course, any time they choose). And the less you VM pay for your broadband the more you get throttled.
But if you've been a Virgin customer for 15 years you have nothing to compare it with? Just like my neighbour who has owned nothing but Fords for the last forty-odd years and *knows* they are the best cars in the world even though he has never so much as test driven another brand of car.
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