The following is the result of this morning's annoyance. Some time ago I (foolishly) signed an online petition organised by the the Australian Democrats. Now they have spammed me. Somehow, in my mind, this is confirmation of what I thought since they helped the GST through... that they no longer 'Keep the Bastards Honest' because they have stepped down from the heights to join the game down in the muck. Anyway, this is my email to the Democrats.

Good Afternoon,

I have just received a "Women's Rights Watch" newsletter, via email, from the Australian Democrats. The email was sent to an address I used only once (email shown here) - when signing an online petition on your website. Near the top of your unsolicited email is the following text:

IMPORTANT: You have received this message because the Democrats would like to invite you to subscribe to Women’s Rights Watch. If you do nothing, you will not receive Women’s Rights Watch again unless you subscribe by sending an email to Karen at (Democrat's email here) with ‘subscribe’ in the subject line.

However, I checked very carefully both the petition's page, and your own privacy policy, before adding my email address to that petition. I did not tick any options to keep me informed about anything. I included the email address on the petition because of my belief that online petitions are perceived as open to abuse (I could 'sign' it many times anonymously), and not taken as seriously as they might be. I feel that including an email address allows my views to be confirmed if the petitionee would like.

When I supplied my email address it seemed to me that the Democrats at least would not be sending me spam. I was reassured by your advice at the point of collection, and on your legal page (http://www.democrats.org.au/legal/), that "You are in control of what we do with information provided by you. This information is used for the purpose that is stated at the point of collection."
So, when I received your mail today because you would like to invite me to subscribe to a newsletter, I felt... ripped off, to put it tactfully. It is spam, pure and simple. When I get an email from "XXX HORNY TEENS" (or some such), for example, it is because they would like to invite me to subscribe to their website. Despite your big red text asking me to opt in, the two examples are quite similar. I didn't ask for A SINGLE email from the democrats, and so - you have just spammed me.

I am suggesting that a couple of things happen now. One - and more a demand that a suggestion, I admit - I would like you to remove my email address "(my email here again)" from your mailing list. From ALL of your mailing databases, for ever. I also ask that the email address I am mailing from now only be used for the purposes of the current correspondence - do not add it to any mailing list or database.

Secondly, I am suggesting that you as an organisation take a look at your policies and practices. You may like to consider such questions as "Do we want to continue our practice of spam, or 'unsolicited invitations to subscribe'?", and "Is our stated privacy policy, our "strong stance on privacy", a truthful representation of the way we operate?". I suggest to you that there is a difference between your advertised policies and your practices. And this difference is a gap between you and trust.

Regards,

Lynne