Go to pretty much any website that takes personal details these days, and you’ll find a link to their privacy statement. This generally says something along the lines of ‘We won’t share your details’. My question, after an incident this week that I will relay, is: how the hell can you prove that they haven’t?

I had an email from a friend this week - it was from a service at Bebo.com, which is an address-book service, whereby your address-book is essentially stored online, and your friends can then update their details in the knowledge that you are immediately updated. Sounds good, eh? I suppose it might be, but all I know is this:

• I had to register in order to send my email address to my friend - why I had to register for his address-book service, I have no idea
• Almost immediately the amount of spam in my inbox increased noticeably

The problem is that I cannot prove that Bebo.com were the culprits. I only have circumstantial evidence to suggest that they were. Spam maillers don’t tend to tell you where they got your address from The only way, which is something I am considering, is to setup a unique email address and submit it to them, and see how quickly it gets spammed.

I’ll keep you posted

mrBen