Thom's version of Friday's friendly torture questionnaire

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Thom's version of Friday's friendly torture questionnaire ( TFFFFF or T5F for short ) is a pre-formulated text with the request to provide comprehensive information about personal data . It is used against personally addressed advertising ( see spam ). It is not limited to e-mail spam and can also be used, in particular, against unsolicited postal advertising letters.

The text of the letter refers in detail to the information obligations that are incumbent on the advertising company under the Federal Data Protection Act . The company is requested to disclose the origin and scope of the personal data and not to send any further unsolicited advertising to the signatory.

Even before e-mail spam became a mass phenomenon, the T5F was developed in May 2001 by a system administrator for the network operator BelWü . It is widely used in anti-spam circles to this day. The term "T5F" is part of the network culture .

On the occasion of the General Data Protection Regulation , the computer magazine c't published a revised version of the questionnaire (with a free download under “Further links”).

Legal

The Chaos Computer Club Ulm points out in a disclaimer that the previous version of the T5F is "enjoying increasing popularity, but [is] legally controversial". It does not go into what this legal controversy should consist of. The website for the current version of the T5F points out that the text is a "document prepared by laypeople for laypersons". As such, it is at least a thorough overhaul of the previous versions on which it is based.

T5F as spam mail (hoax)

Since the beginning of 2007, the torture questionnaire has also been circulating as spam mail itself. Website owners incorrectly receive e-mails with subject lines like “Please answer my T5F immediately! (Torture questionnaire) There is a threat of a court order! ”. In the text, the reader is asked to fill out the questionnaire and return it to the sender (often given as "legal department" without company reference). No reliable information is available about the background to these spam mail campaigns.

As is usual with hoaxes and chain letter e-mails, it is recommended that you delete these e-mails and do not reply to them and do not forward them.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joerg Heidrich: Upgraded: The GDPR gives citizens new rights. In: c't. February 16, 2018, accessed July 7, 2018 .
  2. ^ CCC Ulm: Sample letter due to spam with references to the BDSG, accessed on January 30, 2010.
  3. ↑ Thom's version of Friday's 2001 friendly torture questionnaire , accessed January 30, 2010.
  4. ^ "Hoax-Info Service" of the TU Berlin: False spam complaints from the legal department center on April 20, 2001, accessed on January 30, 2010.

Web links