Tip #4637 - Grouply Safety
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Q:
In yesterday's newsletter, you had an article about Grouply, which
struck me as odd. I heard that Grouply is a phishing site and that
I shouldn't use it. Can you please explain that to me?
A:
Wow,
I've gotten so many questions just like this one in the last 24 hours,
I think I've lost count! It seems like most of you sent me an e-mail
as soon as you finished reading yesterday's article, because they
just kept rolling in. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm glad you all cared
enough about the topic to send me your concerns and questions about
it. That just shows me you really care about your computer and its
safety. So, since so many of you are waiting for some answers, let's
get right down to business!
To begin, I have
one thing to say that will probably answer most of your questions.
"No, Grouply is not a spammer, phisher or an identity thief."
Grouply does not and will never send out any type of spam, but they
do understand where the concerns are coming from. When you start using
Grouply, other members may send you invites to certain things going
on within your group and those can sometimes be mistaken as spam.
It's also possible to receive those invites more than once, which
makes it look like you're getting spam directly from Grouply. But,
as you can see, that's just not the case!
Now, this issue
started popping up during the week of February 3, 2008 and although
Grouply's not sure why, they were able to fix it right away. They
quickly created an update for Grouply and it's now set so that no
user will receive an invite more than once. So, if you're new to Grouply
and you've already been invited to a group, you will only see that
e-mail one time. Grouply even released a complete article about the
issue, which, if you're still concerned, you can read here.
Also, just for your information, Grouply has been around since September
2007 and they have never run into a problem like this before.
On Grouply's Web
site, they make it clear that they are not out to cause phishing problems
or get caught up in identity theft. When you sign up for Grouply,
you are required to provide your Yahoo! password, but they only use
that to view your group lists and send you your group messages. If
they didn't ask for that information, they wouldn't be able to send
you your daily Smart Digest or cater to what interests you most. And
that's what Grouply is all about. I can assure you that they do not
use your information for anything else.
I know there are
several blogs and forum posts going around the Web about Grouply these
days, but if you read them closely, you'll see they're only speculations
and they're usually from people who have never even tried Grouply.
Also, it's important to know that Grouply's Web site is protected
by TRUSTe,
which is a certified privacy company. That just goes to show that
Grouply does keep your information secure and they don't want anything
bad to happen to their members. If you're still worried about Grouply,
you may want to stop using it, but if I were you, I'd at least give
it a try. I mean, if it's something that's fun and it interests you,
how bad could it possibly be?!
~ Erin
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