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Isn't this kind of a privacy breach if it's true? Why does Coinbase get access to emails of people that have applied to YC? I'm not generally a data privacy zealot or anything, but that seems sketchy that YC would provide a batch list of emails to companies for what is essentially advertising/spam...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Coinbase is a YC company. One of the primary functions of YC is networking. In that light, it seems pretty reasonable to me for YC to put alumni in contact with each other. I don't know if this is the case, but there might even be a founders mailing list. That would not surprise me.
I understand a mailing list for alumni, but this is for applicants. I have never applied to YC - but is there a checkbox that says "It's cool to share my email with the 500+ YC alum companies"?
There is really no excuse other than poor judgement and rushed decisions. I apologize and we will make an effort to be much more careful about this in the future.
Very sorry for the trouble on this, the blame goes squarely on me for this - those emails should never have gone out. YC had nothing to do with this, and it was completely our fault in using this private list for marketing purposes. There is really no excuse other than poor judgement and rushed decisions. I apologize and we will make an effort to be much more careful about this in the future.