Next Door East Dulwich using my name without permission

[RecorderSue]

Dear East Dulwich Residents and East Dulwich Forum users, I need to alert you to the fact that Next Door East Dulwich have been sending out cards in envelopes with MY NAME : SUE KLEIN on the outside of the envelope .

I DID NOT INSTIGATE THIS SENDING OUT OF ADVERTISING MATERIAL USING MY NAME, and can only apologise to you for you having been bothered by unscrupulous organisers of the NEXT DOOR group.

[ianr]

Is there any possibility that Next Door's name has also been usurped?

[RecorderSue]

The card inside the envelope says " please join your neighbours on Nextdoor."

-Sue Klein , Oakhurst Grove

The card has all the nextdoor logos, houses and tiny trees

The envelope itself says

From:

Sue Klein

Oakhurst Grove

East Dulwich

London

[ianr]

Interesting. Their website suggests to me integrity and decency, and I see that they say they don't "sell your personal information to third-party advertisers". So I'd surmised possibilities such as database theft and spoofing. My best bet now, though, would be that someone could have made an error in using mailing software, and has inadvertently specified Addressee's name in a Sender's field, and then not checked the output. That's enough to cause alarm, but at least wouldn't be any actual breach of confidence. I think I'd now be checking with others in my Nextdoor neighbourhood, to find out what form their received versions looked like.

[RecorderSue]

The only one I've seen is the one that came through our communal letterbox.I thought of leafletting all houses in my street to let them know that if they received one it definitely was not from me and it does not say my house number.

So Id say that was not spoof but was via Next Door east Dulwich, and there was only one to the people in the top flat, the people in the middle flat did not get one.

[NewWave]

Am i being thick...what is 'Next Door'?

[RecorderSue]

NextDoor is something started in the US trying to be something like the ED forum, but mostly people just ask for recommendations for various trades people. Not as varied or wide ranging as the ED forum.

[dulwichboy2004]

Sue, did you ever sign up for a UK website called 'Streetlife'?

Nextdoor acquired the user details from Streetlife earlier this year:-

https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/05/streetlife-knocks-nextdoor/

and then promptly applied different Terms and privacy rules. Not to everyones liking:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38920906

[RecorderSue]

No I don't think so but will check

Thats the most useful clue do far so thanks

Sue

[Penguin68]

If you haven't already, register with a credit checking agency - this can be free if you agree to be marketed to, otherwise you can pay a one-off charge - if your name is being used 'in vain' then it is remotely possible that your identity may have been stolen. Probably not, but best to check.

[B&G]

May I suggest you contact the ASA to complain? They deal with claims on envelopes as well as other ads.

[ianr]

Let me see if I have it right. A circular from Nextdoor was delivered to your house (addressed to whom?). It purported to be an invitation from Nextdoor, signed by yourself, asking recipients to join.

That looks to me, if anyone else has received that specific invitation (as anyone would normally assume would be the case) to be a breach of the Data Protection Act, unless you've given permission. And of Nextdoor's own privacy policy, in which they enjoin members not to share their Nextdoor neighbour's information without their permission. Do you have any confirmation that any other household received the invitation bearing your name?

They also say: "If you decide to invite new members to join Nextdoor, you might share their residential or email address with us, or share your contacts (or social-media friends list) with us, so we can send an invitation and reminders on your behalf." That's in the "How do we use the information we collect?" section of the privacy policy, https://nextdoor.co.uk/privacy_policy/.

Is there any possibility that you could have, maybe inadvertently or unknowingly, issued such an invitation or shared any such information?

Unless I was convinced it was all my own responsibility, I think I'd write to Nextdoor senior management:

- enclosing a copy of the invitation;

- complaining of their use of your name in it without your permission;

- requesting the following "personal information":

a) all information and evidence they have that led them to believe that the use of your name in the invitation was authorised by you;

b) full details of all mail distributions they or their agents have made of invitations bearing your name.

The last two items are actually a Subject Access Request. You have a legal right to any such information as they have: https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/personal-information/. If they want to act ungraciously they can write back requesting a fee of up to ?10, though I doubt they would.