An ad-blocking tool called Ghostery made a huge blunder last week. In an attempt to send out informational emails about the company’s data collection policy following the recent GDPR implemented in Europe, it committed one of the most critical errors of the regulation. On the day the GDPR went into effect, the company decided to send an email with the subject “Happy GDPR Day” to all registered users of the app, informing them that they were “covered.”
The email confirmed the company's commitment to protecting user privacy and assured that the necessary measures have been implemented to ensure the integrity of the data held.
However, the Ghostery service mistakenly exposed the addresses of hundreds of users when sending this message. The emails were sent in batches of 500 addresses, but instead of using the Bcc option, the Cc option was selected, allowing each user in each batch sent to be able to see the remaining 499 emails in their batch.
Many users rushed to social media as soon as they realized what had happened to express their irritation.
Among the many posts made on the subject, there were complaints about the service, some people thought it was a good time to stop using the service, and others who couldn't believe how ironic the incident was.
The company later announced that the mistake was made by an employee who did not know how to properly handle their new email delivery system.
"We sincerely apologize for the incident. We are horrified and ashamed of what happened. We will do everything in our power to ensure that this does not happen again.".
The company said that while the incident was a simple human error, it would report it. It also gave users instructions on how to stop receiving the company's promotional emails, as well as how to delete their account, if they wish.
