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'''Reunion.com''' is a phoney [[social network service]] generating huge volumes of spam, and data mining malware! |
'''Reunion.com''' is a phoney [[social network service]] generating huge volumes of spam, and data mining malware! |
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In its own press release, Reunion.com claims to be the 6th top social networking site as of August 2007 with 28 million members, growing by nearly 1 million new members each month,<ref>[[Business Wire]], [[April 16]], [[2007]] ''[http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070416005670&newsLang=en Reunion.com Receives $25M Funding From Oak Investment Partners]''</ref> mostly in the [[United States]] and [[Canada]]. |
In its own press release, Reunion.com claims to be the 6th top social networking site as of August 2007 with 28 million members, growing by nearly 1 million new members each month,<ref>[[Business Wire]], [[April 16]], [[2007]] ''[http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070416005670&newsLang=en Reunion.com Receives $25M Funding From Oak Investment Partners]''</ref> mostly in the [[United States]] and [[Canada]]. |
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Revision as of 07:54, 7 December 2008
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| File:Reunion dot com logo.gif | |
Type of site | Social network |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Santa Monica, California |
| Owner | Privately held |
| Created by | Jeffrey Tinsley |
| URL | http://www.reunion.com/ |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Required |
Reunion.com is a phoney social network service generating huge volumes of spam, and data mining malware! In its own press release, Reunion.com claims to be the 6th top social networking site as of August 2007 with 28 million members, growing by nearly 1 million new members each month,[1] mostly in the United States and Canada.
On April 30, 2007 Reunion.com announced that it had signed an agreement with Wink to provide Wink's people profiles (from on-line social networks and other sources on the web) to Reunion's members. Then on August 20, 2007 Reunion.com announced an agreement with ZoomInfo to provide ZoomInfo's business related people profiles to Reunion.com members.
Memberships
Reunion.com has 2 types of members: Free Members and Premium Members. Free Members can do very little without being prompted to pay the premium. Free members may be able to:
- create personal profiles for others to find/view, including a public profile non-registered visitors can view
- post photos to their own photo albums
- search for people who are also members
- create blogs
- add themselves to their high school listings
- store information in their own address books
- write and read message board postings
- read and reply to messages from other members
- view newsfeeds of their contacts and classmates' recent activities
- "nudge" classmates to update their profile
Premium Members, who pay an annual fee, can also do the following:
- see who has searched for members with their name (a reverse search feature)
- see who has visited their profile
- send new messages to any member
- use website tools for planning reunions and events
- read more detailed profiles about other members
- send internal mail to another member
Privacy
Reunion.com is known to acquire the real names, birth date, high school and colleges attended by individuals and create profiles on their behalf. Many people do not want their personal information (such as their age) publicly posted without their consent. This runs counter to the officially stated policy that "Reunion.com respects your privacy." Respecting people's privacy would require an opt-in means for posting private info, yet the Reunion.com homepage does not even show a means for people who feel violated to opt-out.
Although member privacy is protected through a blind relay e-mail system preventing that e-mail addresses and contact information is revealed, it is possible to unwittingly allow Reunion to access all your email addresses stored on your computer upon registration. These e-mail addresses are then used, under your name, to solicit more members.[2]
Reunion.com claims that its members voluntarily choose to share their e-mail usernames, passwords and the contents of their mail boxes. However, this information is used for spoofing which misrepresents the sender of the e-mail.
E-mail spoofing
Many people know Reunion.com because they received a spoofed e-mail. People who subscribe to Reunion.com often unwittingly allow Reunion to access all email addresses stored in their free e-mail accounts. These are then used to solicit more members under their name by altering the sender address and other parts of the email header to appear as though the email originated from the person who subscribed.[3] So although the e-mail resembles an e-mail that is sent by a friend, family member, business contact or another relation, it is in fact sent by Reunion.com. Such fraudulent e-mail activity is known as e-mail spoofing and is often used for e-mail spam.
A typical text of an e-mail by Reunion.com is
"I looked for you on Reunion.com, but you weren't there. Please connect with me so we can keep in touch. Do you know XXXXXXX?" " Yes " " No " <-- Buttons that link to their login page "Tell us, and see who's searching for you! "
The first phrase is generally not true; Reunion.com sends such an e-mail to e-mail addresses found in contact lists of accounts provided by subscribers. Reunion.com has exploited email lists of users to dupe others into subscribing to find out that they really were not contacted by people that they already knew.
Ownership
Reunion.com, Inc. is privately owned. The original investors, making a total investment of $1.4 Million in angel financing, included Internet veterans Jeffrey Tinsley, former founder and CEO of GreatDomains.com and current CEO of Reunion.com; Richard Rosenblatt, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Demand Media and the former Chairman of MySpace; and Andy Mazzarella, CEO of eForce Media and former CFO of iMall.
Financing
On April 16, 2007, the company announced that it received $25 Million in venture funding from Oak Investment Partners[4] in the largest series A venture financing in a social networking company to date. The percent ownership stake that Oak received for their investment has not been reported.
Business model
The company’s business model is based on user generated content and revenue from paid subscriptions and advertising sales. 90% of the firm's revenue is from paid subscriptions.[5]
Better Business Bureau
This company practices what the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau calls negative option cancellation. In this sales strategy, customers agree to pay for services unless they cancel within a specified period of time. Members are required to cancel prior to the initial anniversary date to avoid continuing annual charges to their credit cards.[6]
Complaints from customers not resolved in a satisfactory manner caused the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau to rate Reunion.com 'D'.[7]
The BBB was concerned that the company used misleading advertising practices by e-mailing customers advising them that people 'may' be searching for them, and offers them to become paid members to find the identity of any people that may search for them in the future. In its FAQ section, the Reunion.com site describes this feature as follows: "'Who's Searching For You' will reveal the listed names of the specific users who have performed a search using your first and last (current or Maiden) names and your age range within 5 years of your listed date of birth and is still saved in their Search History'.[8]
References
- ^ Business Wire, April 16, 2007 Reunion.com Receives $25M Funding From Oak Investment Partners
- ^ David Lazarus in Los Angeles Times, April 16 2007 Too much Contact at this Reunion
- ^ David Lazarus in Los Angeles Times, April 16 2007 Too much Contact at this Reunion
- ^ Business Wire, April 16, 2007 Reunion.com Receives $25M Funding From Oak Investment Partners
- ^ socalTECH.com, July 22, 2008 Interview with Jeff Tinsley, Reunion.com
- ^ Reunion.com FAQ (accessed November 21, 2007) How do I turn off automatic renewal?
- ^ Better Business Bureau (accessed August 16, 2008) Company Report
- ^ Reunion.com FAQ (accessed November 21, 2007) What is Who's Searching for You?