BBC stumbles on email list

Unsubscribers sent to whole list

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in IT Director, 9th July 2007 13:50 GMT

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The BBC has suspended its London Travel email list after mistakes were made which led anyone trying to unsubscribe from the service sending their email address to everyone on the list.

The service was reactivated last week but has now been suspended. Annoyed subscribers found they were receiving all unsubscribe requests.

The BBC sent us the following statement: "On 4th July the previously suspended BBC London Travel newsletter was re-activated and an email sent to its original recipient list. The email was distributed to advise on the reactivation of the service but also offered recipients the option to unsubscribe."

"A human error occurred which led to users email addresses being revealed to the distribution list when individuals opted to stop the service. It also resulted in members of the list receiving unwanted emails from those that hit unsubscribe. The service has now been completely suspended and the BBC, its technology partner Siemens and Red Bee Media are currently re-evaluating activation processes to ensure that this does not happen again."

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