More on the Bloody new ads (split)

[vinylraven]

I'm very disturbed by this tracking information. I'm almost tempted to print out all three of these threads in their entirety and drop them in a snail mail to Neopets. If they don't know about such things as the tracking and the questionable content, they should. If they do know, then the least we can do is let them know that we're mad about it.

exactly. when this tracking stuff first started happening, adam would come here and express concern, with promises to fix it. where is he now? has it changed so he cannot control even that, so he has decided not to come back? i just think some answers would help us out.

[Butterflyhornet]

I posted this in NBN, but if anyone is interested in filling out a petion or complaining to TNT, here is a helpful article I found that could be brought up. This was an intervew with one of the neopets business people:

http://info.neopets.com/presskit/articl ... 31804.html

NeoPets EVP Rik Kinney pointed out in an exclusive interview with Jack Myers Report that "the Internet has failed in many ways to deliver on the promise of interactivity and engagement. Many forms of advertising are still 'push -- in your face.' At Neopets.com, members choose to visit, they have a good time, they are involved, they interact, and they receive messages advertisers want to deliver in a very engaging format. There is no traditional banner or button advertising. " NeoPets EVP Rik Kinney pointed out in an exclusive interview with Jack Myers Report that "the Internet has failed in many ways to deliver on the promise of interactivity and engagement. Many forms of advertising are still 'push -- in your face.' At Neopets.com, members choose to visit, they have a good time, they are involved, they interact, and they receive messages advertisers want to deliver in a very engaging format. There is no traditional banner or button advertising. "

[ahoteinrun]

That makes me want to scream Butterflyhornet.
*blinks*
But I won't. It would be unbecoming of a mod.
So i'll just... slowly plan the destruction of Dohring... at the same time that I plan to eat Arrow.

[KatchiJoy]

Hey.... I just thought of something.... Didn't they say that our personal information/stats would not be released to third parties in their privacy statement? Because it definately said that it wouldn't 3.5 years ago when I first signed up... They should have to change it to say that "your information will be freely disclosed to third parties for marketing research" now.

Argh so angry

[vinylraven]

Hey.... I just thought of something.... Didn't they say that our personal information/stats would not be released to third parties in their privacy statement? Because it definately said that it wouldn't 3.5 years ago when I first signed up... They should have to change it to say that "your information will be freely disclosed to third parties for marketing research" now.

Argh so angry

hmm...any lawyers browsing the forums tonight?

seriously though, going back on an agreement like that is not cool at all.

[everconfused]

part of the source code...I've taken some number things out (just in case that was sensitive to Neopets or me - there's spaces where the numbers were) put in bold and italics where your info would be - and of course removed my info and put in generic UserName, Country, etc. Note the Fdev.neopets.com - I think they DO know people are being tracked as to their country, part of the country (zip code), age and gender. They get around the idea of not disclosing personal information by not giving email addy or real name ... yet.

But they have said in the past they would never disclose any personal information. Maybe that was changed after the great security debacle last spring? Gotta cover yourself, right?!

<param name=movie value="http://images.neopets.com/buttons/banner_button_shell_v15.swf?flashXML=<message success='1' text=''>
<buttonScriptURL>http% A% F% Fdev.neopets.com% Fnc_getbutton.phtml% Fr%%
26template_username%3DUserName%26template_sex%3DGender%26template_country%3DCountry%26template_dob%3DYear-Month-Day%26template_zipcode%3DZip Code
</buttonScriptURL><buttons><button><source>
<URL>http% A% F% Fimages.neopets.com% Fbuttons% .swf</URL></source>
<destination><URL>http% A% F% Fwww.neopets.com% Fprocess_click.phtml% Fitem_id%%26type_id% D </URL>
<window>_self</window><method>GET</method></destination>
<flightDuration>20000</flightDuration><removeBlockerButton>0</removeBlockerButton><disable>0</disable>
<borderColor></borderColor><borderSize>0</borderSize></button></buttons></message>"

Last edited by everconfused on Sun Feb 13, 2005 5:31 am, edited 2 times in total.

[hyperflutterby]

Our site contains links to other sites, including those of sponsors, advertisers and survey companies, whose information practices may be different from ours. Sometimes the other sites might conduct contests or sweepstakes that are promoted on Neopets.com. Visitors should consult the other sites' privacy notices, since those sites are not covered by our privacy policy and may follow procedures that are different from ours. Neopets never gives a user's e-mail address or other registration information to such third parties without permission, however, if you choose to "opt-in" (click on a box to receive a third party's information), to register with one of our sponsors, or not to "opt-out" (uncheck a checked box that will provide a sponsor with your information), that means you have allowed Neopets to give your registration information and other collecting information, including e-mail address, to that that third party.

Technically it doesn't say anything about not releasing your information as far as I can see, but perhaps other people would like to scan the document over.

http://www.neopets.com/privacy.phtml

Edit: I was reading so fast I missed it, the part is now bolded.

Last edited by hyperflutterby on Sun Feb 13, 2005 5:32 am, edited 2 times in total.

[WIS]

Hey.... I just thought of something.... Didn't they say that our personal information/stats would not be released to third parties in their privacy statement? Because it definately said that it wouldn't 3.5 years ago when I first signed up... They should have to change it to say that "your information will be freely disclosed to third parties for marketing research" now.

Argh so angry

hmm...any lawyers browsing the forums tonight?

seriously though, going back on an agreement like that is not cool at all.

Oh come on, how surprised can you be?

I'm surprised that at this point, I would expect most things TNT throw at us. Broken Promises, Eating their own words... etc.

[vinylraven]

how sad is it that NEOPETS, a virtual pet site.... is leaving us so jaded? is anything innocent and "sacred" anymore? uggh, internet....uggh

[Brutus]

I've never, ever read a user agreement so far that doesn't state something along the lines of "We can change this whenever we like, and it's your duty to check every second to see if we changed anything, and not ours to inform you about it" (of course, in legalspeak), unfortunaly that's legal, and I honestly doubt that even 4 years ago the agreeming didn't have it.

[everconfused]

how sad is it that NEOPETS, a virtual pet site.... is leaving us so jaded? is anything innocent and "sacred" anymore? uggh, internet....uggh

Vinyl, I actually (at least for me) think that's the point. We all know the internet is full of spam, ads, adware/malware/spyware/virus, etc. .... It's the fact that a supposedly "safe", COPPA-compliant, family-friendly site that is also supposed to be an escape from all the real life and real world garbage has been invaded and taken over by that very garbage.

Our trust has, in a sense, been violated. Our trust that we would be safe on Neopets - safe at least from reality for awhile. Now I have to run my spyware scans every night, since I have gotten spyware from a couple of the ads.

Oh, btw, they started tracking us in a general way before the ads started ... maybe it was a test to see how effective the tracking was. Used IMRWorldWide and RedSheriff - a known pest. I noticed that months ago - I'd go to the site and see a little privacy notice thing on the bottom of my browser.

Last edited by everconfused on Sun Feb 13, 2005 5:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

[WIS]

I've never, ever read a user agreement so far that doesn't state something along the lines of "We can change this whenever we like, and it's your duty to check every second to see if we changed anything, and not ours to inform you about it" (of course, in legalspeak), unfortunaly that's legal, and I honestly doubt that even 4 years ago the agreeming didn't have it.

You read those things of your own free will?

I'm pretty sure the sign up screen says, or said that...

[hyperflutterby]

I've never, ever read a user agreement so far that doesn't state something along the lines of "We can change this whenever we like, and it's your duty to check every second to see if we changed anything, and not ours to inform you about it" (of course, in legalspeak), unfortunaly that's legal, and I honestly doubt that even 4 years ago the agreeming didn't have it.

That's not true. Most of the agreements I have read state very clearly that they are required to inform you if anything changes. I have gotten more than one email from companies with whom I am registered to let me know that they were changing about 5 phrases in a 10 page document.

Edit:

NeoPets reserves the right to change its privacy policy at its sole discretion. NeoPets' users will be informed of any such change by NeoPets posting a new privacy policy on the neopets.com website. The effective date of any change of privacy policy will be clearly marked.

Besides, another quote from the privacy policy:

However, we will treat all personal information we collect in accordance with the privacy notice in effect at the time the information is collected.

Whatever policy you signed under, remains the same no matter what according to this.

Last edited by hyperflutterby on Sun Feb 13, 2005 5:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

[vinylraven]

how sad is it that NEOPETS, a virtual pet site.... is leaving us so jaded? is anything innocent and "sacred" anymore? uggh, internet....uggh

Vinyl, I actually (at least for me) think that's the point. We all know the internet is full of spam, ads, adware/malware/spyware/virus, etc. .... It's the fact that a supposedly "safe", COPPA-compliant, family-friendly site that is also supposed to be an escape from all the real life and real world garbage has been invaded and taken over by that very garbage.

Our trust has, in a sense, been violated. Our trust that we would be safe on Neopets - safe at least from reality for awhile. Now I have to run my spyware scans every night, since I have gotten spyware from a couple of the ads.

yes, that's exactly what i was trying to say, sorry if it came out that differently.

i agree one hundred percent, what i was saying was sad was the fact that even neopets is letting us down.

[WIS]

how sad is it that NEOPETS, a virtual pet site.... is leaving us so jaded? is anything innocent and "sacred" anymore? uggh, internet....uggh

Vinyl, I actually (at least for me) think that's the point. We all know the internet is full of spam, ads, adware/malware/spyware/virus, etc. .... It's the fact that a supposedly "safe", COPPA-compliant, family-friendly site that is also supposed to be an escape from all the real life and real world garbage has been invaded and taken over by that very garbage.

Our trust has, in a sense, been violated. Our trust that we would be safe on Neopets - safe at least from reality for awhile. Now I have to run my spyware scans every night, since I have gotten spyware from a couple of the ads.

yes, that's exactly what i was trying to say, sorry if it came out that differently.

i agree one hundred percent, what i was saying was sad was the fact that even neopets is letting us down.

If Neopets keeps this up, I'm going to have to find a new "sanctuary(sp?)" for me to go on. Maybe Subeta, I dont know...