Weekly YouTube e-mail (1 Viewer)

delia todd

If I said the wrong thing it was a Senior Moment

Staff member

Opus Editor

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• Apr 7, 2013

• #1

The Cookie thread has reminded me to post this question.

Two weeks ago I received an e-mail purporting to be from YouTube,

"Just for You from YouTube: Weekly Update"

I presumed it was Spam and binned it (on Thunderbird) then reported it to GMail.

The 2nd April another one arrived.

Now; I've never 'joined' YouTube; nor have I commented on any of the videos there. I've only looked at some (mostly via links here) only once or twice have I searched for a video - the latest being how to operate my new heating system controls. The first e-mail arrived the day after that.

Is this spam? How did they get my e-mail address?

 

Andrew Whitehouse

Professor of Listening

Supporter

• Apr 7, 2013

• #2

I am signed up to YouTube and I don't get these emails, so that suggests these might be spam. I think that the YouTube sign in is essentially same as the Google sign in though, so if you have a Google log in then you might automatically be 'signed up' for YouTube without realising it. That might be how they know your email. And of course Google knows everything about you anyway .

 

delia todd

If I said the wrong thing it was a Senior Moment

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• Apr 7, 2013

• #3

Thanks Andrew.

I've had GMail for yonks and these have only just started appearing - rather strange.

 

Andrew Rowlands

Well-known member

• Apr 7, 2013

• #4

Plug the email header into http://www.ip-address.org/tracker/trace-email.php next time (or now, if you still have it) and you should be able to work out where it originated.

 

delia todd

If I said the wrong thing it was a Senior Moment

Staff member

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• Apr 7, 2013

• #5

Thanks Andy. This was the result when I pasted the web address in.

But not quite sure how I should interpret that lot LOL!

 

Andrew Rowlands

Well-known member

• Apr 7, 2013

• #6

Uh?! I'd delete that link, plenty of tracking going on just in that!

Can you send me the header of the email, I'll try check it out. http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/email_headers.php#instructions

 

S

stonechat1

New member

• Apr 8, 2013

• #7

Andrew Whitehouse said:

I am signed up to YouTube and I don't get these emails, so that suggests these might be spam. [...].

Click to expand...

I´m also signed up to YT and I get this mails. Nothing bad at all. Seems that it has something to do if one has subscriptions or not because they are showing new videos of them.
It´s only required to change the settings. Log in on YT, then click on "channel settings", then on E-Mails (second line from below). In that page the second chapter is called "Subsription advice notes". There are 3 possibilities to choose: once/day, once/week, never. Take the last one and save with the blue "save" -rectangle in the right upper corner. Ready

 

Andrew Rowlands

Well-known member

• Apr 9, 2013

• #8

Well, the email headers weren't definitive, the automated checker noted "We could not find and not detect sender IP Address from email header. The source IP Address is not included in headers and there is nothing we can do. Sometime Gmail header does not include sender IP Address".

In the cold light of day, (re-)scrutinising the raw data from the headers makes me think it's probably legit.

Still doesn't answer why Delia received it/them if she's never signed up for Youtube though.

Delia, it might be worth logging into Gmail and then visiting Youtube to see if you can access any settings for subscriptions?

 

delia todd

If I said the wrong thing it was a Senior Moment

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Opus Editor

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• Apr 9, 2013

• #9

Hummmph... I'm really not happy about this. Don't know what's going on Andy.

The other day I thought I'd logged out of YouTube, but it appears that logged me out of GMail. So I've done what you suggested and logged back into GMail. Went to YouTube and there's my GMail address at the top right of the screen.

A lot of clicking around and I find "Because I watched that they think I'd like this!" A whole list of rubbish (to me stuff). I then find "Subscribe" and I appear to be subscribed to just about every channel, I've now Unsubscribed from them all (I think, hope).

How can they be allowed to do this?

 

Andrew Rowlands

Well-known member

• Apr 9, 2013

• #10

delia todd said:

How can they be allowed to do this?

Click to expand...

Because they make the rules, D.

I suggest you check the Google policies & principles page: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/ their privacy policy: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/ and How Google uses cookies: https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/cookies/

Also take some time to revisit the links and comments I made here: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=254363

 

delia todd

If I said the wrong thing it was a Senior Moment

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• Apr 9, 2013

• #11

Thanks Andy. I've had a quick look.

When I can keep awake long enough, I'll try and study them a bit better.

 

S

stonechat1

New member

• Apr 9, 2013

• #12

The other day I thought I'd logged out of YouTube, but it appears that logged me out of GMail.

Click to expand...

Seems that Delia bonded her Gmail - account with YT, most likely unwanted.

 

KC Foggin

Very, very long time member

Supporter

• Apr 9, 2013

• #13

Probably a dumb question but towards the bottom of those emails, is there a link to click on if you don't want to receive notifications any longer? This is assuming, of course, that it is a legit email.

 

delia todd

If I said the wrong thing it was a Senior Moment

Staff member

Opus Editor

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• Apr 9, 2013

• #14

LOL I was going to say I don't know KC, as I thought I'd deleted them, but they're still in Junk.

Yes, there is an option at the bottom to change the settings. Trouble is I hadn't even read through the e-mail and I wouldn't click on any links in an e-mail when I didn't know the source.

Thanks Stonechat... wonder if that's what happened. I'll maybe do some investigating in GMail then.

 

kitefarrago

Well-known member

• Apr 10, 2013

• #15

As the big providers of various online services become bigger (by buying previously independent ones) they automatically link any existing accounts with the rest of the empire.

I've had an account on Yahoo for yonks following a couple of discussion groups, and found out to my surprise that that might I also had a flick-r account.

As Andy suggested in another thread, it is worth looking at one's account settings, in particular the communication and privacy parts, to ensure they don't assume you've somehow agreed to all sorts of things. (`We're changing our privacy policy' type emails probably get a lot of harried people clicking `ok' without looking - I've done it myself.)

There's a lot of money in selling on data from your users to third party operators. If you're Google, say, that gives you a good reason to buy something like YouTube, because it'll increase both your userbase as well as the data you can collect about them.

Andrea

 

delia todd

If I said the wrong thing it was a Senior Moment

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Opus Editor

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• Apr 10, 2013

• #16

Thanks Andrea

Yes, you're right about Yahoo too. This morning there's a notification on my task bar that I have 10 e-mails with Yahoo. All spam (apart from 1 from Yahoo) I've reported them all as spam and logged out. That logged me out of Yahoo Messenger!!!

I don't use Yahoo for e-mail.

You could say I'm a bit fed up.