The dreaded re-check. I just signed up for ABCNews.com’s “The Note,” which is fast becoming the poor man’s Hotline — must-know political gossip, campaign handicapping, etc., etc. Thing is, you have to give up some personal information to get it (it comes via email). No problem. I can do that. But like any online form, there’s an “opt-in” option at the bottom, something like “Yes! Please send me useless third-party bullshit solicitations about business partnerships with Nigerian royalty and sexual escapades with carloads of hot teen girls.” The boxes are always checked, and you have to uncheck them if you don’t want your information sold to spammers. So I unchecked them.

Here’s where they get sneaky. You also have to choose a username and password. I chose “rpbalko” as my username. Now how many people out there do you suppose are pining for the username “rpbalko” in order to access ABC News’ daily email of political gossip? Turns out, more than one. That name was taken. So they bring me back to the register screen, where all my info is sits still filled in as I’d originally entered it. Except, they’ve underhandedly rechecked the opt-in boxes I’ve just opted out of! Of course, I didn’t catch it until after I’d hit “submit.” So my information is now available for anyone who pays ABC’s asking price. Sneaky bastards. And yep, by the time I finish writing this, I’ve already gotten my ABC News confirmation email — and an inquiry about lowering my mortgage.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 31st, 2002 at 5:47 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.