for the purposes of work - I'm thinking of writing an article about the new Australian privacy laws - I'm going to try to write down every piece of annoying junk that my data avatar attracts to my poor harried ratava. I'll intermittently post it up here.
Jenny's junk mail and calls diary - four weeks from Sep 10 - October 14
Am I typical? Probably not. Several months ago I submitted every variation of my name and contact points - email, phone, addresses - I could think of, to the Australian Direct Marketing Association's "do not call, do not mail" list.
I've asked my bank to stop sending me material that's not strictly necessary, and to tell its partners to do the same.
But still the calls, letters and emails keep coming.
Tuesday Sep 11: Come home just before 9 to find a number on the caller ID on the phone. Someone phoned about 7.30, but there's no message. I call the number. When a woman answers, I ask what the organisation is: she says they are calling people looking for inventions they can market. I ask to be taken off their list and she replies
they don't use a list, they use the White Pages. So I tell her that I don't want them calling me, regardless, and she hangs up.
When I call back and ask for an address, company name and contact person, she asks "what's this regarding?"
Feeling a little annoyed and wondering why I'm bothering I say, fairly sharply, "you called me" and she hands over the details.
Mon Sep 17: Spam count on my Hotmail account since September 14, when I last emptied the Junk Mail folder: 40. I've had this account for five years. I'm fond of it. So are the spammers.
I get an email at work from the union; they're using email to put out a regular bulletin. By hitting "reply", I get a list of about a hundred email addresses; excellent material for spam lists. I reply, asking them to use a blind cc: next time.
obliquely related to the theme of this blog is a blog of note on privacy, full of links to news about online and offline privacy laws.
I guess the ratava thing is partly about privacy; I see it as being bigger, more about control of one's cyber-self in a world where there are such powerful data forces. by defining your ratava, you can control what happens to your avatar. or something. my essay says it better.
