What you don't seem to realise is that the other people who will attribute to Pokerstars are the people on forums who will see Stars response. Plenty of people haven't got an email either (like me)

I also got this and am very surprised and now concerned to see it linked back to Stars.
I think i would like to hear from Stars that none of my other personal info has been infiltrated

I don't work for PokerStars, I workED.

I don't see what you're suggesting they do. Have someone on hand to approve every mailer that goes out? In 20+ languages, 24/7? With very little notice period and very little that can be done if there's a typo somewhere? These things are often done on tiny notice periods. You're suggesting a nightmare of bureaucracy that'll severely degrade the service.

There are no poker sites and no gambling sites that do this as far as I'm aware, and I'm pretty far aware.

disconcerting to know our personal info can be accessed and abused like this. FFS this is a serious security breach and a big black mark against PS golden image.

Its amazing to think one person can cause such damage. Imagine if the person gets fired and has written down other personal info that would enable him to hack into high stakes players funds (i believe no-one can access passwords even at Stars)

I realise this... that's why i acknowledged in my post that you "used to work for pokerstars".

Anyway look, I'm not trying to just mindlessly argue with you or have anything against you, I just whole heartedly disagree with your assertion that it's a bureaucratic nightmare.

It may well be under the current systems and controls that stars have in place... but it would only just be a case of spending money in regards to creating a new set of controls (that doesn't in some way impede the current workforce any more than it does under the current system). And that is the crux of other peoples and my complaints. Stars probably viewed (at least previously) that this would was not a serious security flaw and so the cost/benefit of a different system was probably not efficient enough to even be considered. After this incident it is possible that stars will have to reconsider their controls and look at other options.

I got this email too. Not impressed.

How do you do this?

All I can see is that you have fewer people who can use the mass mail tool. Or you can have someone who approves everything that goes through it.

How do you fix it without a huge layer of bureaucracy or a huge decrease in effectiveness? - tautology intended.

21st December 2012: The end of the world fish?

Juk

I didn't get it, feeling kinda left out. Or does it mean I'll be a survivor?

Your address was probably sold to a 3rd party so expect PPI and Enhancement pill emails next week.

With the way the PS tools work I doubt that this guy got any email addresses.

Registrant:
Luke Sutherland
139 King Edward Rd
Onchan, Isle of Man IM32AX
United Kingdom

Administrative Contact:
Sutherland, Luke lukesuth@gmail.com
139 King Edward Rd
Onchan, Isle of Man IM32AX
United Kingdom
+50670625920

Mr. Luke Sutherland of PokerStars I know this had to be you spamming me.


I made this e-mail brand new last week and the only thing I ever did with this e-mail is make it my primary e-mail for PokerStars site alone for security.

Never registered for anything else at all with that e-mail address.

I demand compensation for emotional distress damages caused by this spam

By the way this is a huge security risk, he must have access to a lot of e-mails from pokerstars and not only that, being able to bypass G-Mails spam filter is the lotto jackpot of the Spamming world, I know people that have cashed in $50k-$100k+ by bypassing g-mails spam filter for just 1 e-mail spam to a couple or more million g-mail users.

This guys site isn't selling anything though

The guy doesn't have the email addresses. The email system works by supplying a list of User IDs.

But yes, if he's going to break the law/lose his job then you'd have expected him to do something a bit smarter with it... But assuming he thought he'd get away with it I don't think smart is top of his list.

he obv doesnt care about his job or the reprocussions as the earth is going to end.

This is a major violation of Stars privacy policy and I assume they have to at least fire him, and potentially take legal action also.

I hope in doing so they show some compassion though, and posters here could do with showing some also. This guy wasn't pushing Viagra or affiliate links, or selling anything, he was providing info on how to survive the impending apocalype There is no obvious motivation here other than that he actually believed that stuff.

Imagine you really truly believed the world was going to end next week, and you had the ability to warn a ton of people - what would be the right thing to do? This was not malicious, and seems a pretty safe bet this guy has issues.

Don't bother, he's just saying words. It would just be a case of spending money to get a new set of controls that don't impede the process, etc etc - nice way of pretending to propose a solution without actually saying anything at all.

Yeh... or perhaps he was trying it out with something he could defend with exactly this kind of argument, before going all out with affliliate / viagra spam.

Privacy violation stuff like this is serious - he needs to get clobbered. Dirty spamming little scrote.

I work at a multi-billion dollar company, and this is how they're run. I am one of two administers to our financial system. We have countless controls with constant audits, and none of that would prevent me from causing some serious damage if I decided to be a dick. There is always somebody with access to sensitive information with the ability to **** things up. Sure, most of what I could do could be fixed within days, but there are no amount of controls that could prevent it from happening (aside from in the nature that the former pstars employee already pointed out).

Also got the email although it was caught by my spam filter (hotmail), stars should be sending us all at the very least an apology email.

Problem - got an email you didn't want.

Solution - demand another email!

Guy gave himself a reverse freeroll: either the world ends or it doesn't end.
If the world ends, he's screwed and if the world doesn't end, now he's lost his job and he's still screwed.

The guy isn't necessarily a screwball or stupid. Lots of sane, intelligent people wind up joining cults and believing these doomsday prophecies. We all have flaws and this is how people get exploited by these groups. This is an interesting article about followers of Harold Camping who also predicted the end of the world numerous times. http://www.religiondispatches.org/ar...eologies_%7c_/

Based on what people with inside information had said this seems pretty harmless. He didn't have access to customer personal information, just the ability to send out a mass mailing.

If he winds up losing his job over this then this sort of turns into a self fulfilling prophecy which I don't think anybody here wants.

It saddens me though that I am not on PokerStars' "In Case Of Doomsday" mailing list.

I don't want to give away confidential information but I have heard that to gain access to PS' doomsday bunker you need to be PlatinumStar or above.