[LINK] Links Which Don't Where They Say They Do

[Jan Whitaker]

At 08:31 AM 2/08/2013, Tom Worthington wrote:
>That makes me feel good, but when I placed my cursor over the AEI web
>address in theit email to vote,a different web address appeared
>("http://australianethical.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=02761e9...").
>
>Is it ethical for a company, particularly one with a strong emphasis on
>ethics, to track its shareholders in this way?

I doubt they are tracking your use other than keeping their mailing 
list accurate. This is one of those 3rd party email services that 
even the Commonwealth Govt agencies use to outsource email 
management. What makes me angry is that they hide the fact that the 
links are going via a 3rd party, too, by hiding the link behind the 
text instead of showing the actual link. The worst ones are where 
they show one link in the text and then have a different link 
embedded behind it.

I too object when I find this problem from those agencies, often 
forgoing getting their emails if possible and making a stink that 
they need to show on their subscription area on their website that 
they at least inform the subscriber that a 3rd party off-shore 
company will be doing this. That is a bit closer to user consent, 
instead of hiding the fact. You at least know about it so you can 
decide to give your email over by subscribing or not. It wouldn't 
surprise me if you look at the full header info that the messages are 
also coming from that list-manage.com source.

You might try telling the investment company they should lift their 
game, but I doubt you'll get them to change their strategy. It's 
probably a decision from their IT department. Even one of the most 
security conscious Cwlth agencies didn't think it was an issue, which 
it wasn't, for *them*.

Jan


Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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