Archive for January 17th, 2005
Hard selling or phising
A call on my mobile phone on 14 January, 9:41 AM IST from +91-80-5119300 went
on the folowing lines:
Caller: Hello, Am I speaking to Satish?
Me: Yes.
Caller: Hello sir. I am calling from Hutch. We are providing an email
intimation service. Please give me your email ID.
Me: I haven’t asked for this service.
Caller: Yes sir. You have been selected for the email bill notification
service.
Me: I am not interested.
Caller: Thank you sir.
hangs up.
What’s wrong with the above call? Something was not right.
First, someone calls me up and asks for my email ID without explaining to
me why they want it. Second, no indication of the privacy policy and if they
are going to use it for further marketting or sell it to spam people!
Is this marketting gimmick or email harvesting?
What got my goat was the subtle way of ensuring that they get your email ID. If
you notice, the first step is to ask for the emailID. It’s your responsibility
to ask the right questions before divulging the answers.
How different is this from phising?
What saddend me in the whole process?
Am I getting a cynical view of the world? Do I see schemes under everything?
Have I started to read too much in my day to day setup?
My natural reaction on the call was very paranoid and defensive. Moment I heard
Hutch, I was on A-Alert mode.
I am not sure if I like progress/capitalism anymore 
. This guy sums up my feeling to perfection!
