Streetlife / Nextdoor

Boltonlass

My first posting on Nextdoor was to warn everyone that their addresses are revealed on the site. People are generally troubled by this development and the consensus on our area seems to be to leave. Such a pity as Streetlife was useful.
I imagine that the new owners may think again about their privacy policies if they start losing their members.
I feel inclined to leave until it is sorted out and i would urge people to let their neighbours know that their addresses can be seen on there and to warn them to be mindful of what they post.

System

I haven't read the above, but you might welcome my info. Recently streetlife wanted members to verify who they were, and gave three options to do that. The first wasn't operational, the second required a postal confirmation that would cost money, the third, they required bank details. I resisted and told them so and settled for the postal confirmation.

Then came the email telling get me about the new site and the need to bring ten neighbours with me, with details. I agreed to move over, and as I was the first in our area to join streetlife, they appointed me a "leader" status. I looked in the settings, and there before me was everything regarding fellow members, full name, full address etc. This was something streetlife never did.

Consequently after asking for bank details for verification, then making personal details of others known for all to see. I unsubscribe.

It has to be said, they might be legit. But I prefer to be cautious.

Boltonlass

I don't doubt that they are legit, but are they allowed to reveal addresses without permission? I would have expected there to be some privacy or data protection law against that.
Anybody any ideas about where they could be reported to?
I want the site to survive because Streetlife was very good, but they need to change their stance on this issue.

cherylsurrey

I am not on facebook, not on the open electoral roll as I opted out of the open register, so people cant search me on that. I am not on 192.com I got all that info taken down, I am also ex-directory on the phone book, if you google me nothing appears, so although people say you can easily be found, getting my details would be quite hard for anyone to get. This is why I am so angry about this breach of my privacy, I hope they change their policy as like others this was a very useful site for local information.

Boltonlass

I have managed to circumvent their faqs and emailed them about everybody's concerns.
I told them that conversations would be inhibited by the privacy issue, would neighbours be happy to discuss going to a recreational class for example, if that would leave their property unoccupied at the allotted time? Would they ask for animal sitter recommendations if that would suggest they may be about to go on holiday?
These self imposed restrictions would affect their revenue streams so let's hope that they listen.
I have also told them that people in my area are leaving in droves because they simply don't want their address made public.
It would be such a Shame if it was the death of the forum. I also am not on Facebook or other social media and I found it very useful to be able to see what was going on in the neighbourhood.

shaun_from_Africa

Boltonlass wrote: »

I don't doubt that they are legit, but are they allowed to reveal addresses without permission? I would have expected there to be some privacy or data protection law against that.
Anybody any ideas about where they could be reported to?
I want the site to survive because Streetlife was very good, but they need to change their stance on this issue.

But the thing is, they are not revealing anything without permission.
When you sign up to Nextdoor, you are agreeing to their terms and conditions, one of which will be that they will show your details on their website.

cherylsurrey

I think that when you transfer you Streetlife account to Nextdoor they should have taken you to a page that asked you very clearly what you wanted to be public or private, and made it extremely clear in the signup part. It is too easy to hide important info like this in pages of terms and conditions.

I think the fact that streetlife make it clear on their profile page that your name and address is private and not published made me assume that the same terms and conditions applied to the new site. I think they have handled this whole situation very badly.

I didn't think any website would want to make information like this public, I still don't know why they have, the old streetlife format worked very well in my area.

Boltonlass

That is a fair point - not that most people have time to read T&Cs - but is it ethically right to reveal everyone's address do you think? And do you know of any other website that does this? I personally can't think of any such site.

System

Coincidentally, I seem to remember they have several BIG names silhouetted at the bottom, ie National Newspapers etc, so does that mean they are endorsing this site?

p_and_j

Streetlife was just about ok but there are MAJOR privacy concerns about Nextdoor so not taking part any more.