Got this earlier this morning. Thought I'd share it just in case others were concerned about their personal data:
2016-03-17
Dear Site User,
Fair processing notice - Data Protection Act 1998
We are writing to let you know that with effect from 27 January 2016, the Slashdot Media business, which provides online services through various web sites including Slashdot.org and SourceForge.net (the "Slashdot Media Services") has been purchased by SourceForge Media LLC of 1660 Logan Avenue, San Diego, California, 92113, USA ("we" or "us").
As a result your personal data have been transferred to us and will be used in connection with the continued provision of the Slashdot Media Services to you. Your personal data will continue to be processed fairly and lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 for the same purposes as those it was originally collected by Dice Career Solutions Inc and/or eFinancialCareers Limited including to:
[Continues...]
* continue to provide you with information (by electronic means or otherwise) about other services we offer that are similar to those that you have already received or enquired about;
* carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us;
* provide you with the information and services you request from us;
* tell you about changes to the Slashdot Media Services; and
* ensure that the content made available through the Slashdot Media Services is presented in the most effective manner for you and your device.Further information on how your personal data may be processed, who it may be disclosed to and how it will be stored can be found in the Slashdot Media Services privacy policy available at: http://www.slashdotmedia.com/privacy-statement/
You can ask us to remove all your account data, stop processing your personal data and to stop contacting you for marketing purposes at any time.
* For SourceForge.net, please contact us at sfnet_ops@slashdotmedia.com
* For Slashdot, please contact us at privacy@slashdot.org
* For FreeCode, please contact us at freecode-privacy@slashdotmedia.com
* For SlashdotMedia.com, please contact us at sfnet_ops@slashdotmedia.comPlease let us know if you have any queries.
Yours sincerely,
Logan Abbott
The team at SourceForge Media LLC
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @06:13AM
What kind of fool gives their personal information away? Perhaps this is forgivable in wider society, but certainly not on tech websites which constantly discuss this sort of thing.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Saturday March 19 2016, @06:43AM
Staying anonymous has downsides.
1. No reputation. You can't build up a reputation if you are truly anonymous. Reputations can be bad of course. They can be used against you. Anything about you can be used against you. But on the flip side, a good reputation can be invaluable. It's no good hiding from exploitation and harassment if it also hides you from opportunity.
2. Less visibility. Lot of people ignore anonymous comments, and for good reason as they are more likely to be inane and lame, ranging from outright spam to name calling of the sort one might expect from a 5 year old.
3. More tempting to troll. Lack of anonymity can really help a person think before submitting a post full of things they'd never say in person.
4. Not necessarily safer. With the ability to analyze writing styles, it's hard to really stay anonymous.
I prefer a middle route of using a handle. Anyone who really cared to do so could figure out my real name, could hunt me down. So far, no one has. And why should anyone bother? I'm not important. I don't know any national secrets. I haven't ever won a lottery. I regard a forum like this as like a party in which everyone wears masks that are so feeble at concealing identity you realize there must be some other reason for them. And I think it is pure fiction, so everyone can pretend they are anonymous, even though no one is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @06:59AM
With the ability to analyze writing styles
And the ability to trivially mimic others' writing styles, making this effectively useless.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @11:09AM
Lot of people ignore anonymous comments, and for good reason as they are more likely to be inane and lame, ranging from outright spam to name calling of the sort one might expect from a 5 year old.
Nonsense. All my tweets are done under my real name [twitter.com].
(Score: 2) by bart9h on Monday March 21 2016, @01:11AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyfV9sOhwnc&t=1m9s [youtube.com]
These pussy crumbs are making me itchy.
Maybe I should scratch...
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @01:14PM
On the other hand, having an identity (pseudonymous or not) ties you psychologically and socially to a role where it's easy to form a loop where you write things you are expected to write instead of something that might break the character.
(Score: 2) by Geotti on Sunday March 20 2016, @12:04AM
Ehm... This is SN, not a MMORPG.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 20 2016, @01:20AM
It's not such a bad MMO, actually. I like the freemium model, the pacing, and the way the graphics load quickly even on a low-end video card.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 20 2016, @06:55AM
hah. many things are unofficial mmorpgs without people realising it. eg. if you have ever followed warez scene, it's exactly that. soylent luckily has little bit less of those elements but it doesn't mean it's completely devoid of them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 21 2016, @06:54AM
> Anyone who really cared to do so could [...] So far, no one has.
No. No one has, that you know of. You actually have NO IDEA who knows what about you; you just know that nobody's shown up at your door with a crow bar. You don't know if you've ever accidentally triggered the right codeword bingo to make you, at some point, some TLA's reasonably suspicious suspect, nor what private and nationstate slurpers have slurped, nor to what ends their hoards will be put. And you WILL be monetized.
Handles get tracked as you said. Styles get tracked, as an AC said. Sometimes the only way to win the game is <NO CARRIER>
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Saturday March 19 2016, @08:29AM
What kind of fool gives their personal information away?
Not me. Unless you consider one of my SPAM-trap emails personal info...
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Saturday March 19 2016, @08:41AM
Interestingly, I have NOT received this email @ that address... I just checked.
Maybe they have some of alrgoritmh....
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday March 19 2016, @07:03AM
I did receive one of those emails. Still contemplating if I should replay to the mentioned contact emails and ask them to remove me or if I should just ignore it and let it be. I wasn't even aware that I still had an account. Once upon a time they used to delete inactive account after a set amount of time, but now I guess they keep and save them forever. I can't even recall the last time I logged into Slashdot, we are talking years since the last time.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @07:19AM
If you have no intention of going back, I recommend replying and getting them to delete your stuff.
At the very least, if they end up selling themselves again, and you get ANOTHER email like this, you know full well you weren't deleted like you were asked.
Then you can make a post about it here!
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday March 19 2016, @05:56PM
Once upon a time they used to delete inactive account after a set amount of time
I don't think so. I have a 5 digit uid over there and after being there for a few months I drifted away for literally years. Several email addresses later I registered a different account when I couldn't remember the password, but was able to get my original UID back with a single email.
Perhaps they'll improve as a site now, but I doubt their community... er, audience will. Way too many uneducated, incurious people of questionable intelligence who think they're nerds because they have an iPad and an iPhone and read comic books. S/N has a far more intelligent community.
And yeah, I got the email, too.
Impeach Donald Saruman and his sidekick Elon Sauron
(Score: 3, Funny) by hemocyanin on Saturday March 19 2016, @07:28AM
I used my real name, a real email address, and provided them with my SS number and mother's maiden name! What will I do?
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @07:37AM
Change your mother.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 20 2016, @01:23AM
On a serious note, giving different answers for "mother's maiden name" means that if there's a data breach at one site, your accounts elsewhere aren't imperilled.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @08:14AM
Don't forget to change the combination of your luggage.
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Sunday March 20 2016, @03:25AM
How did you get the combination to my luggage?
SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @10:57AM
Fry's Electronics in San Diego thanks you in advance for the purchases made from your new credit cards.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by unitron on Saturday March 19 2016, @07:30AM
...they've got my user name and the email address which is that same user name "at" a domain, and all the posts that have appeared under that user name, posts anyone using Google could find.
I'm sure I'll lose sleep, but not over that.
something something Slashcott something something Beta something something
(Score: 4, Informative) by TGV on Saturday March 19 2016, @07:51AM
I don't see any change. It looks like a normal way to treat your subscribers. Or am I overlooking something?
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Saturday March 19 2016, @01:52PM
That's what I was wondering as well. It seems the company is just changing legal ownership, and the data goes with it. I haven't logged in since Soylent started, but I definitely have an account, yet I haven't got an email.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday March 19 2016, @08:55PM
:)
I got the email, and i haven't logged in there either!
Maybe they're trying to find a way to monetize the message, lol.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @07:55AM
Where are all the complaints about ACs now bitches?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday March 19 2016, @02:38PM
Is it difficult to make a junk email for user accounts? No.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @04:27PM
Yes, you have to give a phone # these days.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday March 19 2016, @04:47PM
If you mean to get an email address, Gmail only makes it appear that you need to give a phone #, and then a lot of smaller providers outside of Hotmail/Yahoo/AOL don't force you to provide a phone number or pester you for one.
Are you still saying you can't obtain an email address anonymously?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 20 2016, @03:21AM
I typed something like "free webmail" in a search engine and up came this list:
http://prxbx.com/email/ [prxbx.com]
There I found a provider that didn't ask for my name or phone number, and let me create an account via Tor. It was sufficient for signing up to this site; perhaps it would do for slashdot.com as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @07:29PM
They are all busy pouring hot grits on a naked and petrified Natalie Portman.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday March 19 2016, @08:08AM
Suddenly I am glad I never did have an account at the other site. And I have a fair assumption that my account here will never be subject to this kind of extortion? Oh, noes! They are going to sell significant identifying information on a 2400 year old Greek Philosopher and Astronomer! Well, maybe I can get a better credit card rate, or score some blue pills. Maybe.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bitstream on Saturday March 19 2016, @08:22AM
2016-03-17
Dear Site User,
Phony processing notice - Data Protection Pretend Act 2001
We are writing you to avoid lawsuits with effect from 27 January 2016, the Slashdot Media business, which provides online services through various web sites including Slashdot.org and SourceForge.net (the "Slashdot Media Services") has been assimilated by SourceForge Media LLC of 1660 Logan Avenue, San Diego, California, 92113, USA ("we" or "us").
As a result your personal data have been transferred to our sleazebag and extraction department, and will be used in connection with the continued provision of raking advertising spam and privacy sell out on the Slashdot Media Services to you. We pretend your personal data will continue to be processed fairly and lawfully in accordance with the Data Phony Protection Act 1998 for the same purposes as those we pretended it was originally collected by Dice Career Solutions Inc and/or eFinancialCareers Limited including to:
Single truth speak :P
Have they hit something hard that made them go https? ;)
(Score: 1, Redundant) by FakeBeldin on Saturday March 19 2016, @08:56AM
27 January they were bought. 17 March they decide to inform their userbase that all the userbase's data are now belong to SourceForge.
Is that a reasonable delay? To me, it's 5 weeks late. Isn't this the kind of thing you have to figure out before selling/buying? I mean, afterwards, what are you going to do? It's not as if they could decide whether or not to transfer the data to the new ownership after they are under new ownership...
(Score: 1) by dovf on Saturday March 19 2016, @06:30PM
I got this email about 3 weeks ago (Feb 28). Seems that it may just be taking them time to go through the entire userbase...?
In any case, so far the new holders seem to actually be doing a good job -- they've made some changes that have been needed for a very long time, and say that they are working on more; they are engaging the community in an open way, and are being very responsive to requests and criticism. Of course, one can be cynical about this or not, but so far the feeling over at slashdot seems to have improved substantially.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 20 2016, @10:03AM
We've put four interns on this, but with over 900,000 e-mails to type it's gonna take awhile. Please be patient.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @07:54PM
To me, it's 5 weeks late. Isn't this the kind of thing you have to figure out before selling/buying
Having been thru a few buyouts over they years sometimes it is amazing. One they bought my division out and the old company wanted their computers back but the new one had not even ordered the new computers (100+ of them). So they had to beg for an extension until the new computers showed up. Both of these companies are fortune 100 companies.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 19 2016, @07:00PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 20 2016, @10:11PM
Indeed. Instead of sending these emails they should have simply asked the users "are you now in the UK, or do you intend to enter the UK in the future?" and only sent the notice to those who answered "yes." Or, you know, just sent the notice to users with .uk email addresses, because that's good enough for legal purposes.