NOTE: Although this is a real email thread, it does not contain my usual technical, process or market perspectives. Instead, I got tired of the barrage of emails offering me YOUR contact information, so I decided to expand my usual Request to be Forgotten and run down exactly whom was selling this ‘global eDiscovery contact list’. Enjoy.
Angela,
After not receiving a response multiple times I would hope that you would understand that I do not purchase Personally Identifiable Information, especially not the PII of peers. I know that many marketers are hungry for these lists, especially since the suspension of in-person industry conferences. However, I do recommend that your company review the CCPA, CPRA, GDPR and other data privacy laws to ensure that you have full personal releases on every contact in your lists. Traditionally, most legal/discovery prospect lists have been harvested from ‘free’ CLEs, webinars and events. At least that kept the lists inside the industry. I am betting that a lot of those prospect databases got sold off for pennies a name during the last few years of market consolidation. Did the ToS documentation and privacy waivers pass along with those lists? Doubting it.
When you propose a potential regulatory violation to a legal technology professional, you also should expect them to run a fast background check. In your case, GlobalProspects4U.com is nothing more than a GoDaddy hosted anonymous email routing domain. The company is not registered with the Arizona Secretary of State, but a bit of sleuthing found Global Prospects Inc. in a tiny business park without a sign in Port Charlotte, FL. Based on Global Prospects employee reviews, you probably prefer responding to email blasts versus telemarketing vacation rentals in the Ft. Meyers call center. Interestingly enough, the owners got a PPP loan for up to $350k back in April. Did they use that money to purchase the lists that you are now selling? Hopefully they used it to keep you and coworkers employed and transitioned to remote sales work.
All of this was meant to get me and every old, outdated email address of my former employees out of your database. Consider this a formal demand to delete any records associated with my company domain. My second goal is to publish this letter to my legal technology peers to highlight the risks of ‘free’ reports, webinars, CLEs and virtual events with ToS clauses that give over your PII. If they do not believe me, they should check the ToS on the ‘Community Edition’ of ZoomInfo.com.
To recap, I do not want to buy a giant list of my peers contact info. Find another line of work or at least stop hawking to eDiscovery professionals who like dusting off their search skills and filing privacy complaints.
Greg Buckles
From: Angela Lemp <alemp@globalprospects4u.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2020 12:28 PM
To: Greg Buckles <Greg@eDJGroupInc.com>
Subject: RE: status- Q4 B2B Legal and eDiscovery list
Hi,
I understand your busy schedule at work however, it would be really appreciated if you could share your thoughts on my previous emails.
If you feel you need more information to analyze our proposal, I would love to share more info on the same. But, in order to do so I need to understand the kind of contacts you would be specifically interested in. I hope this would help you in much better way rather than getting something which you don’t care about or not needed.
Look forward to your prompt response.
Thanks & Regards,
Angela
From: Angela Lemp <alemp@globalprospects4u.com>
Sent: Friday, December 4, 2020 4:04 PM
To: ‘info@ediscoveryjournal.com’ <info@ediscoveryjournal.com>
Subject: RE: Q4 B2B Legal and eDiscovery list
Hi,
I sent you an email about acquiring opt-in contacts based on my research about what you do as a company and I believe that might add value to your marketing plan.
However, I haven’t heard back from you on that, not sure if that email made to your inbox? Do you feel acquiring these opt-in contacts (or) any other contacts of your interest would help you?
Kindly share your thoughts which would help me to do the needful.
Thanks and regards,
Angela
From: Angela Lemp <alemp@globalprospects4u.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 1, 2020 2:55 PM
To: ‘info@ediscoveryjournal.com’ <info@ediscoveryjournal.com>
Subject: Legal and eDiscovery list
Hi,
I’m writing this email to see if you would be interested in acquiring a list of Law firms, eDiscovery and corporate legal professionals for your marketing initiatives to raise your clientele.
Examples of titles:
Corporations:
- Chief Legal Officer, VP/SVP of Legal Affairs/Counsel
- Corporate Counsel, General Counsel
- Deputy General Counsel – Litigation
- Associate General Counsel – Litigation
- Director of Legal Operations
- Director/Manager of eDiscovery
- Litigation Support Manager, and more.
Law firms:
- Founder/Owner, Managing Partner, Partner
- Lawyer/Attorney, Director of Litigation Support
- Litigation Paralegals, Senior Litigation Paralegal
- eDiscovery Manager, eDiscovery Analyst/Advisor
- eDiscovery Counsel, and more.
Quick response with your target audience can help us connecting and providing more information such as counts, pricing, a couple of samples for you to review.
Looking forward to your response.
Thanks & Regards,
Angela Lemp | Marketing Coordinator
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 posted. 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.