"Hotel chain's customers aggrieved"

...yeah, but to be fair they mainly were before the hack.

After a series of incredibly bad experiences with them I avoid them wherever I can. Lenny Henry's favourite lot are much better, and often not much more expensive.

It must be the 'hackers'

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The sheer number of corporations hit by 'hacker' attacks in the last six or seven months, compared with previous years, just seems improbably large. And while some are no doubt genuine external penetrations, I still have this nagging feeling that some individuals in some companies, with or without the backing of their superiors, may be using 'hackers' as an excuse to sell customer data for profit. I have no evidence of course, and I wouldn't even dare suggest which ones are probably genuine and which might be deliberate. I just have a very strong gut feeling that there are shady dealings afoot. The numbers simply don't feel right.

And remember, those of us who use unique e-mail addresses for each recipient are a tiny, tiny minority of the customer base, even for technology companies and gaming websites. For someone like Travelodge the percentage will be even smaller. The vast majority of people who end up getting spammed as a result of this situation, be it penetration or otherwise, will be none the wiser as to why. So for any company or individual who WAS selling the customer database, the rewards would be great and the risk of detection relatively small.

Just sayin'.