SourceForge.net is changing their privacy policy again. You can read the policy in effect right now, and the one coming up on their website. Let’s hope for the sanity of this post that the first is actually the link for the archived version, too.
In a sad attempt to actually comply to their own privacy policy, sf.net announced this change via email. The email to me was sent on Sept. 4th, announcing the switch date to be … hrm … Sept. 4th. This apparently violated
Concurrently with any substantive change to the Privacy Statement, we will email notice of the change to known users at least 15 days in advance (or such shorter or longer time as mandated by law or any judicial or government body).
Apparently, because they changed the date due to at least two tickets filed, one of which was mine.
The rationale for the change in privacy policy, according to that first mail, was
in connection with the ongoing SourceForge.net Marketplace open beta,
and our recent TRUSTe certification…
Just quoting because I found the “TRUST” in there funny. Sort of. Anyway, if you read the two versions linked above, you’ll have a hard time finding out the differences, but one difference is pretty remarkable: sf.net will not attempt to notify its users of privacy policy changes by email again. Let’s make that again-again. Long time ago, they did the very same thing, they changed the privacy policy, and dropped the mail-notification clause. Back then, I had them delete my account. At some point in time, they re-added the notification clause, and I opened up a new account to participate in buildbot-devel and translation-i18n discussions. Sadly, they lost it again, and I won’t even try to review their proposed privacy policy beyond the point that it can be changed at will and any change to it will be somewhere in the attic.
Shrink-to-fit is not the way to handle privacy, seems like I have to say farewell to sf.
Again.