NOTE: This piece is a continuation of my adventures baiting those pesky data merchants hawking our PII to marketers with the audacity to send blasts of unsolicited emails packing our Inboxes.
Last December I documented my attempts to understand who exactly was offering me your personal contact information. This latest solicitation (below) offered up qualified users of Relativity, Nuix and other well known eDiscovery platforms. I wondered who was selling your info and how they got it. So I started backtracking the metadata and domains. Guess what I found?
Received: from DESKTOPALAD61H (unknown [223.185.90.162])
(Authenticated sender: sophia.w@leadsmak.com)
For a start, Leadsmak.com does not exist except as a domain alias. A bit of digging in the header extracted the originating IP address, which is located in India.
Sophia_Lives_In_India
I have no idea if ‘Sophia Wallen’ is a real person or a bot, but my gut says that her response was generated from a contract marketing firm like a call center. I requested a sample of the list and that request was routed to the US based data aggregation company called Dataxpander. If I were based in the EU or any country with real data privacy laws, I am sure that the names, titles, direct dial phone numbers and LinkedIn profile URLs might be considered a violation of those PII protection laws. My favorite independent privacy attorney Tom Matzen could answer that question. Dataxpander seems to have been formed in 2015. I just wonder how they acquired customer lists from companies whom I know pride themselves on protecting their customer data.
The sample spreadsheet provided of Relativity users did indeed have familiar names from firms and companies that I happen to know are Relativity customers. I carefully redacted all the names, email addresses, direct phone numbers and LI profile links so that you could see exactly what kinds of fields were being offered to unscrupulous marketers. If I seem cranky and unrealistic about how fishing for prospects via email blasts, then my tone is about right. I have written hundreds of thousands of content rich words since we launched eDiscoveryJournal.com in 2008 to develop a curated, qualified audience. That means starting small and growing organically. I am proud of my followers and have my site set up to delete any bad addresses or bounces. Time and again providers have asked to buy the eDJ list. No sale. I only hope that our privacy laws and business practices will slowly convince companies to generate good content, events and customer referrals instead of just buying our information.
Link to larger PDF copy of Relativity One samples
I hope that you enjoyed my exercise as much as I will enjoy emailing this blog to Neil at Dataxpander.
Greg Buckles wants your feedback, questions or project inquiries at Greg@eDJGroupInc.com. Contact him directly for a free 15 minute ‘Good Karma’ call. He solves problems and creates eDiscovery solutions for enterprise and law firm clients.
Greg’s blog perspectives are personal opinions and should not be interpreted as a professional judgment or advice. Greg is no longer a journalist and all perspectives are based on best public information. Blog content is neither approved nor reviewed by any providers prior to being published. Do you want to share your own perspective? Greg is looking for practical, professional informative perspectives free of marketing fluff, hidden agendas or personal/product bias. Outside blogs will clearly indicate the author, company and any relevant affiliations.
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From: Sophia Wallen <sophia.w@leadsmak.com>
Sent: Friday, July 2, 2021 10:47 AM
To: Greg Buckles <Greg@eDJGroupInc.com>
Subject: eDiscovery Users
Hi,
Hope you are doing excellent!
I was curious, if you would be interested in acquiring targeted list of eDiscovery Users Contacts information across the NA/APAC/EMEA/LATAM?
Below are few of the related technologies account you might be looking for:
- Bloomberg Law users
- Clio users
- LexisNexis users
- Nuix users
- Relativity users
- Thomson Reuters Westlaw users
- TurboLaw users
- Needles users
- Wolters Kluwer users
- Amicus Attorney users
- BigHand users
- OpenText Discovery users and Many More
Please feel free to let me know if you would like to include any other related or competitors customers base/Install Base along with this. Alternatively if you not the concern person to discuss on this please forward this email to the concern person
Regards,
Sophia Wallen | Marketing Coordinator
Division – Data Research Innovation
Marketing research project| e-Marketing Platform | Client portfolio design and development
If you don’t wish to receive any offer from us please feel free to reply to this email with “Leave Out”
From: Greg Buckles [mailto:Greg@eDJGroupInc.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 6, 2021 8:22 AM
To: Sophia Wallen
Subject: RE: eDiscovery Users
Can I get a small sample of Relativity or Nuix uses to see the contact fields available?
From: Sophia Wallen
Sent: Tuesday, July 6, 2021 8:53 AM
To: ‘Greg Buckles’
Cc: neil.johnson@dataxpander.com
Subject: RE: eDiscovery Users
Hi Greg,
Appreciate your response!
I have copied my business development manager Neil on this email.He will assisting you with all your further queries.
Warm Regards,
Sophia
Hi Greg,
I must apologies for the delay in getting back to you. Just found this in my junk folder now.
Your information was passed on to me by Sophia Wallen from our extended marketing team.
I have attached random Relativity user sample data for your review,
Are you looking at a Global list or would it be limited to certain region?
A quick response from you will enable me to send across more information specific to your request.
Are you
Sincerely,
Neil Johnson
Business Development Manager
XXX-XXX-XXXX
Address: 1190 Miraloma Way Suite P, Sunnyvale, CA 94085, USA
DataXpander