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RE: A big brother moment? email reminders of what you haven't done
Subject:RE: A big brother moment? email reminders of what you haven't done From:"Al Geist" <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com> To:"'Connie Giordano'" <connie -at- therightwordz -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:48:10 -0500
I get that same magazine in digital form. I don't read every issue, although
I do open them and scan the headlines. I'm going to purposely miss opening
the next issue to see if I get the same message. If I do, rest assured it
will be the last digital issue of Website magazine. I have no use for
companies that do not inform me that they are tracking what I read. I
consider that an invasion of my privacy, and with so little privacy left
these days, I like to keep as much of it as I can.
Al Geist
Technical Communicator, Help, Web Design, Video, Photography
Office/Msg: 802-872-9190
Cell: 802-578-3964
E-mail: al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com
Website: www.geistassociates.com
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"...I walked to work, quit my job, and kept walking. Better to be a pilgrim
without a destination, I figured, than to cross the wrong threshold each
day." (Sy Safransky)
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+al -dot- geist=geistassociates -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+al -dot- geist=geistassociates -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Connie Giordano
Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 10:16 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: A big brother moment? email reminders of what you haven't done
Does anyone else find this disturbing? I just received an email that read
in part:
"Our records show that although you have requested to receive the "Digital
Version" of Website Magazine, you did not yet view your latest quarterly
issue (Feb '09 - Psychology of Design)."
I'm a big believer in making sure content is relevant to my audience, and I
know tracking web-surfing habits is one way to do that. However, I am deeply
disturbed by a magazine that would openly admit that they're tracking me to
the extent of pointing out that I haven't opened the current issue. Sort of
like having a PHB looking over your shoulder to make sure you're keeping up
with the required number of keystrokes per hour.
It totally creeped me out, and I'm wondering if I'm over-reacting. As
creators of content/purveyors of information and recipients of the same,
what constitutes customizing content and when does it cross the line into
invasion of privacy? Just curious as to others' thoughts on this.
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ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. http://www.doctohelp.com
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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