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FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

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Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#471

Post by Arrath »

mtgentry wrote: post #434
justinpombrio wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unsubscribe links are a fantastic regulation, but there is a workaround. I must have received at least a dozen emails from Brown after graduating despite unsubscribing to every email they sent. The trouble is they're endlessly creative about the lists they put you on. I'd get one email from "Alumni Connections" and then another from "Faculty Spotlight" and then another from "Global Outreach" and then another from "Ev…

Reminds me of text messages from the DNC. I gave my phone number to Obama in ‘08 and have been endlessly pestered ever since.

Reminds me of my brother, who happens to be a universal donor and gives blood when the whim strikes him.

Meanwhile he gets a text asking for a blood donation more or less every week.

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#472

Post by grigri907 »

ethbr1 wrote: post #452
mtgentry wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of text messages from the DNC. I gave my phone number to Obama in ‘08 and have been endlessly pestered ever since.

Everyone should be educated to never give their number or email to a political campaign of any sort.

There are several campaigns over the years I would have contributed to if they could only guarantee I wouldn't be placed on their lists.

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#473

Post by immibis »

greycol wrote: post #462
monksy wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I'm getting these emails from the KamalaHarris campaign. They're signed by the domain as well. I've never given money to the organiation, I'm not connected with their party, I've never signed up for the campaign, or interacted with them. However, I'm constantly being put on their mailing list soliciting for donations. I've seen how the campaigns pass around email addresses without consent. (Mostly from ActBlue) So…

Unfortunately political parties have more of a free pass on this as Republicans sued providers for their emails getting caught up in spam filters around 2022 (Who would've thought continuosly emailing people who click unsubscribe on your emails who then start reporting as spam would get you put on spam lists). Now political parties (and some bulk providers) have special tools to bypass rejection with some providers a…

I'm actually amazed at this because it seems to be the first time he Democrats are actually taking advantage of all the loopholes the Republicans made, rather than trying to take the high road.

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#474

Post by immibis »

justinpombrio wrote: post #446
thayne wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got on a mailing list for something from IBM. The unsubscribe link took me to a page that always said it was "temporarily" unavailable I should try again later. The first time I gave them the benefit of the doubt. After a few tries over the course of months, I decided that it was permanently unavailable, and if it really was broken, they didn't have any motivation to fix it. So I set up a filter to automatically de…

You should email them and tell them they're not in compliance with that regulation. IBM will have lawyers who care, so you might be able to stop that spam not just for yourself but for everyone.

Even better, just report them to he FTC; they could (but probably won't) be liable for up to $50,000 per email.

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#475

Post by [deleted] »

megiddo wrote: post #226
TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #96

It would be great to see the FTC go against predatory subscription services like Adobe. I'm fuzzy on the exact details, but I think they promoted a yearly subscription that was meant to look like a monthly subscription, where if you cancelled early they would charge you an exorbitant cancellation fee. I'm not sure how these new rules affect them. One recent idea I've had is that many online subscription services shou…

Let me regale you with the story of my Adobe Subscription cancellation. I had been considering learning Illustrator and to align myself, I decided to get a little skin the game. I signed up for the "monthly" subscription. I downloaded Illustrator, and this screenshot was my entire experience: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-prev... Suffice it to say, this didn't meet my expectations. I thus de…

[deleted]

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#476

Post by [deleted] »

susanthenerd wrote: post #253
amatecha wrote: post #67

Nice. I canceled a service recently and I had to "continue to cancel" and click on other such "confirmations" such that I think I proceeded through 7-8 pages before my subscription was actually canceled. Truly manipulative and obtuse. That was Spotify btw. I should have recorded the process, as it was nearly comedic (if it weren't so hostile).

Services like this are the reason I prefer to pay thru google play. It is much easier to just cancel it

[deleted]

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#477

Post by EasyMark »

cortesoft wrote: post #174
TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #96

It would be great to see the FTC go against predatory subscription services like Adobe. I'm fuzzy on the exact details, but I think they promoted a yearly subscription that was meant to look like a monthly subscription, where if you cancelled early they would charge you an exorbitant cancellation fee. I'm not sure how these new rules affect them. One recent idea I've had is that many online subscription services shou…

Man, I remember when Amazon Prime first started, I signed up for the free trial to get free shipping on something. Of course, I forgot about it and didn’t cancel, but then I got an email from Amazon saying, “hey, you didn’t cancel your prime subscription but you also haven’t used it at all, so we are going to not charge you and cancel it for now. Here is how you easily restart your subscription if you end up needing…

I’m pretty sure that I receive emails before my prime subscription is up for the year each time “renewal notice”

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#478

Post by dev1ycan »

Uehreka wrote: post #190

When people try and say that regulating stuff like this is impossible, I often think about how unreasonably great the regulations around “Unsubscribe” links in emails are. There really seems to be no loophole or workaround despite there being huge incentive for there to be one. Every time I click an “Unsubscribe” link in an email (it seems like they’re forced to say “Unsubscribe” and not use weasel words to hide the…

This is not the case though, I click unsubcribe from the IEEE trashcan spam email and they ask me to login to their website to unsubscribe, wtf.

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#479

Post by TulliusCicero »

vel0city wrote: post #361
inetknght wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I often think about how unreasonably great the regulations around “Unsubscribe” links in emails are. The sheer number of comments that think the state of "unsubscribe" is good is... saddening. I should not have to click a link to "unsubscribe" from something that I did not subscribe to. There's no recourse for me against these thieves.

So what, people should only be able to email you if you've previously emailed them? How am I supposed to know who I'm allowed to email?

Right now, just doing any kind of business with a company seems to open you up to marketing emails. That's messed up.

Now, actually important emails about my order or account, those I have no problem with.

Re: FTC announces "click-to-cancel" rule making it easier to cancel subscriptions

#480

Post by efreak »

inetknght wrote: post #378
vel0city wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what, people should only be able to email you if you've previously emailed them? How am I supposed to know who I'm allowed to email?

> So what, people should only be able to email you if you've previously emailed them? No, people should be able to email me as they would normally. I should be able to block senders, or entire domains. To use a direct example: if I decide that substack is shit because they subscribe people without consent (which is exactly true), then I should be able to block all things from substack and not just a single email addr…

Set up a filter from substack to the spam folder. I filter a number of domains directly to trash.
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