Important Notification Regarding Vonage's Privacy Policy

Posts: 120 · Member of the Week Joined: Aug 30, 2006 Posts: 120

Glad to see that change only applies to Vonage USA. The privacy policy for Vonage canada states something very different:

http://www.vonage.ca/help_knowledgeBase_article.php?article=399&category=0

Quote:

Collection / Use of Information
Vonage shall collect and use customer identifiable information for billing, provisioning of service, to solve problems associated with service, and to inform customers of new products or services that will better meet their needs. Vonage will use customer identifiable information to market products and services to the customer, but will not disclose or make available any customer identifiable information to any third parties seeking to market products. If a customer chooses not to participate in direct marketing of new products and services from Vonage, that customer's information will not be used for the purpose of marketing new products.

Posts: 44 · Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 11:11 am Post subject:

webfors wrote:

Glad to see that change only applies to Vonage USA. The privacy policy for Vonage canada states something very different:

http://www.vonage.ca/help_knowledgeBase_article.php?article=399&category=0

I suspect that Vonage is bound by Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which REQUIRES them to obtain your consent when they collect, use or disclose your personal information.

Posts: 120 · Member of the Week Joined: Aug 30, 2006 Posts: 120

NewView wrote:

webfors wrote:

Glad to see that change only applies to Vonage USA. The privacy policy for Vonage canada states something very different:

http://www.vonage.ca/help_knowledgeBase_article.php?article=399&category=0

I suspect that Vonage is bound by Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which REQUIRES them to obtain your consent when they collect, use or disclose your personal information.

Nice! Glad to see all those taxes we pay give us something in return Smile

Posts: 44 · Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:08 pm Post subject:

Yeh . . . it would have been nice (and ethical) if Vonage had actually ASKED for permission before just giving away the personal email information (and phone numbers, and addresses) of their US customers.

Of course, I really don't see anyone actually willingly signing up for spam, so I can understand why Vonage's marketing droids did this on the sly by changing the Privacy Policy.

Mad

Posts: 20 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 03, 2005 Posts: 20

It is pretty sleazy of Vonage to sell our contact information, so we're put on spam lists (call it what you want Vonage... we know exactly what it really is), and making it difficult to "opt-out" really validates how unscrupulous Vonage has become.

A truly ethical company would default to opt-out.

These are things that customers don't forget when making future purchase decisions. For me, now that Vonage has this policy I am much more likely to seriously consider cancelling service.

I definitely plan to let all my Vonage friends know about this sleazy policy.

Posts: 44 · Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 8:15 am Post subject:

I've emailed online news sites C|Net & The Register's story editors with the following:

Quote:

I received an email from Vonage indicating a Privacy Policy change (as of November 8, 2006) which says, in part:

Use of Information
Vonage will use PII (1) to market products and services to Customers and Visitors that Vonage believes may be of interest to them.

Further down in the new Privacy Policy, it says:

Opt-out Policy
If you do not want your PII used by Vonage for any direct marketing purposes, then you may opt-out of such disclosures by calling us at 1-VONAGE-HELP (1-866-243-4357).

However, we are not responsible for removing your PII from the lists of any third party who has previously been provided your information in accordance with this policy.

Apparently, Vonage plans to actually GIVE AWAY customer email addresses to third parties. The ONLY way to "opt-out" is to call customer service. There is no "opt-out" at signup, nor is there ANY way to "opt-out" in customer account preferences on their website. The default is "opt-in", meaning your email is immediately shared with third parties.

Customers are already having problems opting-out when speaking to clueless customer service reps as indicated on the recent thread I started at vonage-forum.com. There are no prompts to opt-out, you have to explain the request to foreign-sounding reps. Customer service also seems to be closed over the weekends.

http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic17268.html

This is a VERY poor policy . . . and Vonage needs to read how poor it is in the media.

Posts: 44 · Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 7:19 am Post subject:

TMC.net has picked up the story:

VoIP Provider Vonage Crashes on Privacy Policy

Posts: 25 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Dec 29, 2005 Posts: 25

Looks like they've added a FAQ page on the Vonage web site to answer concerns about the changes in the privacy policy:

http://www.vonage.com/help.php?article=1217

...including a special email address to send opt-out requests to.

They say that if you do opt-out, you will no longer receive any contact from them regarding Vonage offers and features: "It also means that you will not receive new offers of benefits, features, savings, products and services from us."

My read of their explanation says that they're claiming that if they do release PII to third parties, it's only to third parties who assist them with marketing Vonage products and services, not third-party products: "The only third parties who may have access to or use your information are the vendors and contractors we retain to provide and assist us in the marketing and provision of our offers, services and products to you, who are also subject to strict confidentiality obligations."

Suggestion: cc: yourself if you send them an email request so you have a copy of the request for your records.

Posts: 44 · Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:45 pm Post subject:

scoosdad wrote:

Looks like they've added a FAQ page on the Vonage web site to answer concerns about the changes in the privacy policy:

http://www.vonage.com/help.php?article=1217

...including a special email address to send opt-out requests to.

Thanks for the heads-up.
I was just getting ready to compose a story submission to /.

It's better than nothing, I suppose, but it still the absolute WRONG way to do direct marketing to customers.

It should be confirmed closed-loop OPT-IN . . . period.
If it's NOT, you're spamming.

scoosdad wrote:

Suggestion: cc: yourself if you send them an email request so you have a copy of the request for your records.

Done and done.

Quote:

I do not want my personal information shared with anyone at all, under any circumstances, for any reason, including but not limited to: email, telephone, direct mail, All

I do NOT want to receive benefits, offers, products, features and services delivered via direct marketing from Vonage nor third party affiliates . . . ever.

Posts: 176 · Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 5:17 pm Post subject:

I sent an email specifying I wanted to Opt Out of any emails or telephone calls. They responded that I had to reply with the methods I wanted to Opt Out of, otherwise it wouldn't take effect. What a crock of crap!