Ticketmaster = Name-Selling Lowlifes

Vaughn McMillan

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A while back I bought a couple of event tickets online through Ticketmaster. As I usually do, I created a unique e-mail address for the transaction, so I could see if the website operators (Ticketmaster) were distributing my address to others for marketing purposes. (I create a unique address, then set it to forward to one of my "real" addresses. By looking at the To: field, I can tell where the address originated.) Since then, I've received a flurry of spam messages, all addressed to my "special" Ticketmaster address. The ONLY place I have used that address has been in a single transaction with Ticketmaster, so there is no doubt at all where the spammers got my address. ;)

I've been using this spam tracking method for probably 10 years or more, and this is the only real egregious case of name-selling I've seen in all those years. I was going to send them a message to let them know I'll be reporting them to the FCC and FTC, but their website has no contact information as far as I can tell. Why am I not surprised? :rolleyes:
 
Folks like you (and me) used to be called paranoid for taking such precautions. Turns out we've always just been sensible :rofl:. Even before there was such a thing as a personal computer I used to use an incrementing middle initial when subscribing to magazines or making catalog orders. This allowed me to find out who was selling my snail-mail address to 'spray and pray' advertisers. Still after 30 years or more I will occasionally get something in my mailbox for Glenn X. Bradley or Glenn Z. Bradley. These lists never die . . .
 
I was going to send them a message to let them know I'll be reporting them to the FCC and FTC, but their website has no contact information as far as I can tell. Why am I not surprised? :rolleyes:

C'mon Vaughn, you're geek enough to solve this one... :thumb:

1- whois record is here. (which includes a ticketmaster tech contact email)

2- 411.com gives us the phone number of ticketmaster administrative offices.

3- google gives me the ticketmaster privacy policy... Hmm, that includes an email address to their legal department.

4- As an exercise to the reader :rofl: there is also the option of contacting the tech contact of your local newspaper. Or maybe wired.com might be a good one...
 
Well done on the catch Vaughn. :thumb: Strike one more for the good guys. Thats one reason i have been migrating all my mail to my Yahoo account. For those that dont know in Yahoo mail you can create spam busting email addresses that you can simply terminate or block. Go to mail options on the top right hand side of the screen and you can set up all sorts of spam filtering. :D:thumb:
 
At least you were able to buy tickets.
Most Ticketmaster stories I hear involve 15,000 tickets being sold out in eight seconds. Then, to get a ticket you have to pay 3 to 4X more from a scalper, who, somehow, is legal.
 
...actually now that yu have it how do you get rid of it vaughn?

I generally just delete any spam that makes its way through my filters. For the Ticketmaster spam, I've got that account set up now to just bounce the message back to the sender as undeliverable, with a little extra message telling them what I think of Ticketmaster. (The CoC prevents me from sharing that message here.) ;)

Thanks for the legwork, Art. I hadn't really gone digging yet...you saved me some time. It's not like I really expect to make any difference, but I can at least feel that I've tried.

Glenn, I used to also subscribe to things using the names of my dogs. Brujo McMillan was a long-time member of the Columbia Record Club. :p
 
At least you were able to buy tickets.
Most Ticketmaster stories I hear involve 15,000 tickets being sold out in eight seconds. Then, to get a ticket you have to pay 3 to 4X more from a scalper, who, somehow, is legal.

And is often a wholly owned subsidiary of Ticketmaster.

I just assume that I have absolutely no privacy whatsoever. That way I'm pleasantly surprised when I have to write 8 letters to get all my medical records gathered together after a move. :huh: :dunno:
 
I went to buy tickets to a concert and balked at the $10+ "convienience fee" per ticket. Best tickets available were right stage, second section back. I went downtown Mpls. to the theatre, saved the $40 fee and got front row, center section. No more ticketmaster for me. The theatre told me they are given so many premium tickets to sell and I was one of the first.
 
Is it illegal for them to sell your info? Do they specifially say they won't?

Good point. I suspect there's something in their User's Agreement that says they may do it. I think a lot of what miffs me about it is that many of the ads are for Viagra or male enhancement drugs, and they typically have misleading subject lines like "BestBuy.com Deal of the Day" or "Your Registration #73665". The typical scammer/spammer profiles.
 
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