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New NY Times iPad app signs up users to spam list and makes it hard to get off
October 17, 2010 | 9:49 am
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By Paul Biba
The following comment was made to our story about the NY Times iPad app. I think it’s pretty shoddy behavior on the part of the Times. Here’s what’s going on:
… by signing up for a NY Times account thru the iPad app, the confirmation email link that you have to use to enable the account signs you up for a NY Times ” product and services” spam mailing list. You have no choice in the matter if you want to use the app. And you can’t opt out EXCEPT by logging into your new account from a web browser. You can’t get to account info from inside the app. That’s a serious drawback.
I was going to download the app and give it a spin, but not now.
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Comments:
Emphasising yet again the importance of having two, three or four email accounts.
I have an email account for professional issues. I have an email for personal issues. I also have a throw away hotmail account that I have had for ten years. I use it to sign for loads of online web sites such as newspaper sites and sites like the NYT above. No one I know knows it so no one writes to em on it. So all the crap goes to it and most gets sucked up by the spam filter. I confirm subscription emails and check it once a month to keep it alive.
I know it’s a pain in the butt, and the Times is pretty backward in their ways, but does it make sense to completely abandon what is actually a pretty nice app when it takes just a minute to log onto a browser to unchecked a option? It is a nice app, even though there are a few bugs in it.
Where exactly are these settings to turn off in your account?
I already had a NY Times account (for reading online, not a subscription to the newspaper itself) and have had this for years. Thus I could sign into the app using my e-mail address and password. I did download the app and the first time you open it, it asks if you want Push notifications. Just tell it no. Otherwise, it sends you latest news updates which is not necessarily a bad thing, but if it annoys you, opt out. If you have already opted in, go down to the lower rt hand corner of the app where it says Settings. You can have Breaking News on or off. In all the years I’ve had a Times account, I have never received spam from it. Perhaps some consider breaking news to be spam; I don’t.
Go to the NY Times web site. Create an account and opt out of everything. Download the app to your iPad. Log in with your newly created account. Problem solved.
Now, if I can only get the keyboard to pop up in the app, so I can log in. I don’t know if it’s a problem with the app or the OS. I’m running 4.2 beta 3, so it could be an OS problem.