Quechup
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| Community portal or online contact network (see social software ) | |
| languages | English (as of November 7, 2009) |
| operator | iDate Corporation |
| editorial staff | iDate Corporation |
| Registration | Yes |
| Annual income | unknown |
| On-line | November 26, 2004 |
| http://www.quechup.com/ | |
Quechup , pronounced like ketchup in English , is a British social networking service that became famous in 2007 for automatically sending out email invitations to all addresses in its members' address books to draw their attention to Quechup and to visit this website to stimulate. This process was classified as a “ spam campaign ” and caused a wave of negative comments.
Company details
According to the company's own information, the growth rate was 125% in 2008 and access to the website is said to have increased by 500% compared to the previous year , according to Google Analytics .
In contrast to the previous years, there have been no reports of growth rates for 2009 so far.
Functions
Every user has a membership page where they can come without registering, introduce themselves, play games and upload photos or videos. On the member's page, visitors can leave publicly visible messages or post notes / blogs . As an alternative to public messages, users can send each other personal messages or chat . Friends can be invited to groups and events. A watch list keeps you informed about news on the member pages of friends.
Accusation of address book fishing
The automatic invitation to all addresses in an address book of members who registered for this social network service were controversial for two reasons. On the one hand, only the consent of the address book owner was obtained, but not the consent of the owner of the email addresses contained therein . On the other hand, invitations were sent to all addresses in an address book without exception.
This was followed by a wave of indignation and criticism, so that the parent company iDate Corporation was prompted to make the following public statement on September 17, 2007:
“Quechup was one of the first social networking sites to include such a feature back in 2005. With its growing popularity (social networks), expectations of what features a service should have and how they should work have emerged. Quechup's address check did not conform to what users now expect as the norm ”
“Quechup was one of the first social networking sites to have such a feature since 2005. As the popularity (social networks) increased, so did the expectations of such a service and how everything works. The verification of the addresses by Quechup did not meet what the users expected as a standard. "
Most of the criticism moved to mislead the user into the center by the true intentions in the small print terms and conditions würden.und hidden worse no information could be found in the guidelines for privacy. The guidelines only say
"You agree that we may use personally identifiable information about you to improve our marketing and promotional efforts, to analyze site usage, improve our content and product offerings, and customize our site's content, layout, and services."
"You consent to the use of your personal information so that we can review our sales and advertising strategies, analyze the use of our site, review our content and product offers and adapt them to the content, layout and services of our site"
On his blog, Chris Hambly describes that the registration process is very focused, so new users think that importing their address book is a necessary part of the registration process, a "must", so to speak, although it can actually be skipped.
He also emphasized that the controversial step 2 of the registration process was preceded by an explanatory text in normal type, which raised the question of the user's level of responsibility, as he by no means described the ultimate consequences of the address book import. In such cases, he recommends reading the request carefully. Finally there is also the link that says that you don't have an address book.
In its public announcement, iDate Corporation emphasized that the address book checker was only a freely selectable option for new members. There is no obligation to do so, and links to skip this step are also available. The explanatory text adequately describes the consequences and its intended use is sufficiently stated in the window. They are well aware that Internet users often confirm reading and agreeing to lengthy terms and conditions without actually doing so. For this reason, they would have purposely placed the statement and terms and conditions right in this registration step to avoid confusing information.
However, it was precisely this arrangement that caused the number of those click-happy users who agreed to the conditions without reading to skyrocket.
The consequences
Quechup responded immediately by changing its service accordingly and assuring its users that it was not acting as malware.
Quechup revamped the address book checker within a few days, leaving it up to its members to decide who, if any, should receive an invitation to Quechup.
Quechup also took over Windows Live ID Delegated Authentication from Microsoft in order to give Live and Hotmail users limited access to Microsoft's security servers.
Quechup also became a member of SenderCore, the world's largest database for checking email senders.
Quechup also completed all of Microsoft's Sender ID Framework requirements for email authentication and used SPF entries .
With the Quechup affair, requests for open authentication by an OpenID system such as B. BBAuth from Yahoo , which allows the user a limited access to their own data without sending passwords directly to a website. Instead, Quechup adopted Windows Live ID Delegated Authentication, an OpenID system for Windows Live and Hotmail users.
Fake invitations
As the latest development, technology journalist Robert X. Cringely raised the question of the extent to which Quechup would send fake invitations to meetings to members in order to induce them to join the paid premium service. In his article he claims that it cannot be ruled out that those fake e-mails in circulation came from "unscrupulous subsidiaries of Quechup who were commissioned to do so".
At the end of 2008, Quechup announced that the premium service would be free for members when they attract new members. The premium membership is usually chargeable and costs £ 35 per year.
Individual evidence
- ^ Saul Hansell Social network launches worldwide spam campaign in the New York Times on September 13, 2007
- ↑ Quechup experiences staggering increase in new member sign-ups and traffic ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Quetchup spam The PC Doctor's blog
- ↑ Quechup Spam — addresses of parent corporation and attorneys Howard Rheingold, September 3, 2007, SmartMobs
- ↑ Had an invite from Quechup? ( Memento of October 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Jemima Kiss Digital Digest Monday, September 10, 2007 GuardianUnlimited, accessed June 23, 2008
- ↑ The Quechup Social Networking Platform: IDate Corporation Updates Quechup's Address Book Feature ( Memento of the original from January 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Press release, Newbury - Berks - UK - September 18, 2007
- ↑ Quetchup = Kvetchup ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. September 1, 2007 http://digitalflotsam.com/
- ↑ Privacy policy quechup.com, accessed September 10, 2007
- ↑ Quechup And Mass Hysteria ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Chris Hambly , September 2, 2007
- ↑ Do social network sites genuinely care about privacy? (Do social networks generally respect privacy?) Charles Arthur in The Guardian, September 13, 2007, accessed September 13, 2007
- ↑ Windows Live ID Delegated Authentication allows limited access to user data without sending passwords directly to a website
- ↑ Search for Quechup.com The SenderScore Reputation Database protects email senders
- ↑ The Sender ID Framework is an e-mail authentication technology ( Memento from June 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) - Microsoft Sender ID, accessed on December 9, 2008
- ↑ OAuth: Open Authentication Comes Closer to Reality ( Memento of the original from October 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. O'Reilly Radar July 25, 2009
- ↑ Robert X. Cringely Oops, you just spilled Quechup on your pants ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , InfoWorld , April 7, 2008
- ↑ Users can now receive all the benefits of Premium Membership for free by inviting friends to join and interact on Quechup. ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- IDate corporation's own website
- Quechup.com's own website
- Quechup is rotten: don't accept invites - An article on Boing Boing .
- Quechup? No, Thanks - An article on Blogcritics.
- Quechup - An early blog complaint about the Quechup registration process, dated March 2006.
- Lischka, Konrad: Brutal advertising methods: The nasty tricks of the MySpace imitators on Spiegel Online from September 20, 2007
- Kleinz, Torsten: Network identity: stop the data octopus! on time online November 10, 2009