13 Comments

Marketers selling your private information

October 11, 2006 by in Privacy,Random,Stupid with 13 Comments

gillete birthday

Scary thought, companies – such as Gillete – are able to purchase sensitive information about you – legally!? This seen on the Consumerist:

October 6, 2006

Dear Mr. Popken,

Thank you for contacting The Gillette Company.

We are always concerned when a complaint is received and appreciate your bringing the matter to our attention. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We have an outside source that provides us with this information.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or comments.

Mai X.
Consumer Service Associate
010823372A

Without subscribing to any mailing lists, or submitting sensitive information like address and birth-dates, companies like Gillette are able to target consumers mailing birthday celebration(s) offering free products (with the intent to persuade you to continue using said product).

To be honest, I had never really thought about something like this being a violation of my personal privacy, but now that I think of it, it’s a bit discomforting and scary. Companies are getting your personal info from somewhere, but where?


  • adamjackson

    A) does this mean you just turned 18?
    b) i think it was awesome to get a machIII razer on my birthday now i use the gillete fusion

  • chad

    I recieved this same thing when I turned 18… now going on 23 this is kinda old news to me… I am not suprised though… having ones birthday and mailing address isn’t all that serious when you think about giving out phone numbers and such. I’d much rather recieve free toys in the mail on my birthdays than get phonecalls from strangers trying to get me to buy their crap.

  • sky

    Funny enough, I think I received a free razor not as soon as I turned 18, but soon after I registered for the draft. I always assumed thats where they got the info from, but now that I am a bit older, it seems a bit far fetched that the government is making a quick buck by selling my birthday. I’m sure they have much less noticable ways to rip us off.

  • thisiswritersblock

    I think that a lot of this information is easily obtainable via your consumer relationship with a bank. Bank of America allows their business “partners” access to your information (hearsay).

    More importantly, for about $20-40 you can find out information on just about anyone you’d like. I encourage my sister to run a background check on any guys she’s serious about dating. It’s cheap and easy to get very detailed information about someone.

    I don’t want to go off on a political rant, but this is all available in the name of The Patriot Act. The most socialist piece of propaganda that our country has ever used against us. That, coming from a registered Republican.

  • http://www.zeusbox.org Kuswanto

    Start interrogate your friends and family :D

  • http://5thirtyone.com Derek

    No. I was 18 a long long time ago. If you read the post you would have seen the link to the Consumerist.

  • Andrew

    Hmmmm. I think this is total crap. Companies should not be able to gain any personal information about me. I was pissed enough when the military started sending me crap but now I have to deal with more junk mail from corporations. That just doesnt make sense to me.

  • Mike D

    I got one of these for my 18th and that was 4 years ago.. it bothered me a lot as soon as I got it. I didn’t really do anything about it though because I believe targeting small problems only makes other things worse I just plan on finding a better country when this one gets to bad.

  • Vernon

    This is no big thing. I have run political campaigns. We would find out your date of birth and have the candidate call you to wish you a happy birthday. We’d also use that info to tailor automated calls to voters.

    V

  • http://www.myspace.com/AlexTheMartian Alex B

    Me any all my friends got the same shaver when we turned 18.

    I did not care they knew I was 18, I got something for free, I was happy.

  • http://www.myspace.com/AlexTheMartian Alex B

    And to reply to thisiswritersblock, I dont think for this piticular thing, the information came from a Bank. There are many 18 year-olds that have no bank accounts, and i know friends that got this and have no bank accounts.

  • gruntman_the_sound

    I got one, too. Free razor, I’m not complaining. I actually needed one after those airport dickheads broke my mach 3, tossing my bag about.

    It’s just…$12.00 for four blade carts? What are they made of, gold?

  • Chris Smith

    When I turned 18 I got all this Playboy stuff, as well as my draft information. Really… Playboy? Don’t need that junk.

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