Reunion.com Faces Privacy Problems

In the social networking industry, the single most important factor for building user trust is strict control over their privacy. It looks like Reunion.com continues to break their users’ trust. Back in May I wrote about Reunion.com spam tactics. An article in LA Times highlights yet another privacy violation by Reunion.com.

This time around the company paid a third-party for a massive user database which ended up including the data of minors, one of which was only 4-years old. According to the article, “Reunion.com’s privacy policy says the site ‘prohibits registration by and will not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under 13.’ But that doesn’t address the site’s own data-gathering.”

The data may not have come from their recent user database acquisition though. Instead a Reunion.com supervisor suggested that the information probable came from “state vaccination records or from the Centers for Disease Control.” Wherever the data came from it can be shocking to see the information of your family members who aren’t members of the site showing up within your profile thanks to the help of third-party data.

Oregon State officials stated that this information is technically not public and that Reunion.com’s assertion was completely inaccurate. I think I smell a lawsuit coming. The company appears to be in the business of aggregating profiles of individuals created by third-party data providers whether or not those individuals are actually users. If there is one company that is good at building a bad reputation, I would say Reunion.com is.

Have you had any bad experiences with the company?

AllFacebook Marketing Conference returns to San Francisco on June 28-29! Join us and get a how-to guide for marketing to Facebook’s 800 million users. A full agenda will be announced soon. Keep an eye on our event site for more information. Special early pricing is available for only $249 until this Wednesday, February 15, so register today.