You’ve Been Tagged! – Class Action Lawsuit
Posted on : 21-09-2009 | By : Erika Marie | In : Entertainment, Technology
Tags: Lawsuit, social media, Social Networking, Tagged, Time Magazine
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Time Magazine had previously labeled Tagged “The World’s Most Annoying Website” for its intrusive and deceptive email scam claiming your friends have sent you photos, or have posted photos of you on this unpopular website, Tagged. I refuse to even link the website. However, once you sign up you’re easily deceived into spamming your entire contact list with an email stating you sent them photos on Tagged, requesting them to register on the site to see the photos you never even uploaded so that the cycle continues.
A new class action lawsuit filed last week (Thank you for the heads up, Mr. Malley) against Tagged by Miriam Slater and Sara Golden. The lawsuit alleges that Tagged “in executing a massive email solicitation campaign to register new members, failed to disclose to consumers that it was using its members’ email address books to propagate yet more solicitation messages to appear as if they were personal communications from the consumers whose email contacts it had pilfered, and Defendant’s messages included false statements that the senders were seeking to contact or share photographs with the recipients.” Last month the New York Attorney General also stated he planned to sue Tagged for “deceptive email marketing and invasion of privacy.”
I am pretty sure I signed up for this website in the past. I am usually very careful about the emails I select and have in the past been duped into sending social networking emails to my entire contact list which includes everything from potential employers to my great Aunt Sandy. Suffice to say, I’ve never uploaded any photos to Tagged and I never plan on it. That site is the devil!
I’m not sure if I should expect more out of Harvard graduates and Tagged founders, Greg Tseng and Johann Schleier-Smith or if this exactly the kind of scam that would come out of an Ivy League school. I think every website and email host should have the “recall message” option like Microsoft Outlook does. It would have saved me a lot of trouble in the past!
Nevertheless, if I get a new email from “you” inviting me to see photos on Tagged, not only will I pull out my Homey the Clown sock and bop you over the head with it (’cause Homey don’t play that), I will also start sending you Huggies Network emails like someone so kindly registered me for. Thanks for the free diaper. Really.
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Once again, an interesting post with current internet privacy concerns, but with a troubling comment: “I am pretty sure I signed up for this website in the past”. Such remark exposes THE underlying concern for PARENTS OF MINOR CHILDREN UNDER THAT AGE OF 13 THAT BECAME INVOLVED WITH TAGGED, but will allow the blog’s writer the ability to clarify their comment,concerns and issues:
Does your email list contain email addresses of minor children below 13?
If so, did any of those minor children below 13 get contacted and provide personal information to tagged?
What advice would you provide to the parents of minor children below the age of 13 that were contacted, and did provide personal information to tagged, since neither the “homey the clown” nor huggie advice provides them relief?
What advice should the new york attorney general provide to the parents of minor children below the age of 13 that were contacted, and did provide personal information to tagged?
What is the advice: COPPA?
Your readers, especially PARENTS OF MINOR CHILDREN UNDER THAT AGE OF 13 THAT BECAME INVOLVED WITH TAGGED, are looking forward to your advice.
joe malley
malleylaw@gmail.com
ps: As for the “old” reference, “Mr” Malley, feel free to refer to me as “joe malley”, since the other “moniker” that has been provided me by bloggers as “PRIVACY CRUSADER”, seems slightly un-professional!
http://ivebeenmugged.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/05/nebuad-closes.html
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/65173.html?wlc=1251045168
Thank you for your response, Joe Malley. I don’t believe I have any children under the age of 13 on my email list, but you really can’t blame any website for any information a child might give to it. That child might just as easily tell a stranger on the street, or a caller on the phone. They might fill out a survey at a store – anything. Tagged may be a weasel of a website, but they’re not the only website that contains information on children 13 and under.
To put it simply, it is the parents’ responsibility to monitor what the child is doing and what kind of information the child may tell anyone, whether online, in writing, or over the phone.
I certainly value my privacy as much as the next person, but I know that I will be the only one who can protect my children from this. Your cause is a great one, and I am sure you’re appreciated very much for your passion, but I don’t want laws to take over my freedoms. There are so many precautions you can take to keep children safe on the internet.
However, mistakes happen, and 12 year olds sign up for websites where they don’t belong. This is where you come in. I am sure you will site COPPA in any lawsuit against Tagged or similar website. Once that information is out there, it’s out there. There’s nothing you can do to remove it from the internet. I would hope these parents learn from their mistakes and educate their children before someone else does.
I’m sorry I don’t have some magic bullet that will solve their problems. As long as their is ignorance, there will be lawsuits. I think your job is safe.