UPDATE I asked Bob Inderbitzen to reach out to Blue Cell. They are an established training company that provides government training in various areas including Emcomm. They were approached by an ARES member in Colorado, Randy Councell, N0OEM to inquire about how they could ramp up training courses for their group. Blue Cell stated that they used their tools to scrape websites to get the names and emails of ARES members, targeting Colorado. They also used social media to announce the discount for ARES members. Bob explained why we were concerned about their efforts and the response we have had from members. They told Bob that the results were horrible - among the worst response rate they've ever seen - and not to worry, they will not be going after ARES members ever again. He reiterated that this campaign is over, then hung up on Bob. David From: arrl-odv <arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org> On Behalf Of Baker, Mickey, N4MB (Dir, SE) Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2022 9:06 AM To: Jairam, Ria, N2RJ (Dir, HD) <n2rj@arrl.org>; Ritz, Mike, W7VO, (Dir, NW) <w7vo@comcast.net>; arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> Subject: [arrl-odv:34218] Re: Fwd: Blue Cell Training Discount for ARES volunteers Conjecture, but the mechanism to get this data out of ARES Connect. The ARES Connect software - Volunteer Hub common name to the product we used - had no protection for the list across sections/divisions. If a volunteer needed to work in two different sections, they had to enroll in both, so we had volunteers in several sections, so, practically, the database was open to all who had a login. Volunteer Hub was designed for a single, unified volunteer organization. It was a bad choice, partly because of data privacy issues. When it became obvious that it was "going away" several sections ran reports and did data extracts to preserve the data they collected over time. -- Mickey Baker, N4MB Director, Southeastern Division ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio(r) Phone (561) 320-2775 Email: n4mb@arrl.org<mailto:n4mb@arrl.org> From: arrl-odv <arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org>> on behalf of Jairam, Ria, N2RJ (Dir, HD) <n2rj@arrl.org<mailto:n2rj@arrl.org>> Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2022 at 8:36 PM To: Ritz, Mike, W7VO, (Dir, NW) <w7vo@comcast.net<mailto:w7vo@comcast.net>>, arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>> Subject: [arrl-odv:34216] Re: Fwd: Blue Cell Training Discount for ARES volunteers I got a similar email from a member in this division. I, too, read the privacy policy. "For amateur radio license applications, we are required to share the collected information with the Federal Communications Commission. ARRL respects your privacy and we will not share personal information we collect about you except as required by law or with your permission. ARRL shares public data but not personal information with our corporate partners. We provide these companies with only those elements of public information they need to offer or deliver services. We do not permit disclosure of private data to others." Where did they get this data from? Could it have been from apps we used to manage ARES like the past ARES connect? I don't know. I am asking. I know for my professional endeavors I get a lot of spam from people who scrape linkedin (I would have deleted linedin but I need it for work). But this doesn't appear to be the case here. Would be nice if we know how this data got out, and how any further misuse of this data by third parties can be stopped. Ria N2RJ ________________________________ From: arrl-odv <arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org>> on behalf of Michael Ritz <w7vo@comcast.net<mailto:w7vo@comcast.net>> Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2022 8:28 PM To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org<mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>> Subject: [arrl-odv:34214] Fwd: Blue Cell Training Discount for ARES volunteers See below. This member was wondering if ARRL harvested his personal information related to ARES membership, and sold it to this company so they could spam him with ads for training. I told the member that we safeguard ALL our member's personal information, and that it certainly didn't come from us. That said, I took a look at the ARRL Privacy Policy: http://www.arrl.org/online-privacy-policy. <http://www.arrl.org/online-privacy-policy> I didn't see anywhere in that long tome where it stated we do not sell personal information to any third parties. (I easily could have missed it....). Do we have a published policy on the sale of member information to third parties? 73; Mike W7VO ---------- Original Message ---------- From: Grant Hopper <kb7wsd@gmail.com<mailto:kb7wsd@gmail.com>> To: Scott Honaker <scott.n7ss@gmail.com<mailto:scott.n7ss@gmail.com>>, Michael Ritz <w7vo@comcast.net<mailto:w7vo@comcast.net>>, "Mark J. Tharp" <kb7hdx@gmail.com<mailto:kb7hdx@gmail.com>>, WWASM@comcast.net<mailto:WWASM@comcast.net> Date: 10/26/2022 4:33 PM Subject: Fwd: Blue Cell Training Discount for ARES volunteers This is EXACTLY why I get so angry with the way my personal information is so sloppily handled in emergency management and emcomm (not to mention amateur radio) communities. They're not a Washington registered (or foreign, registered in WA) LLC so there's no easy way to hold them accountable for spam. This specifically targets ARES volunteers so it has to have come from a list that was either sold, or was harvested. If the league actually sold the info, this was a very bad move on their part. I'm sure I'm not the only one angered by this, but likely only one of few that will take the time to complain since I know all of you. It's probably something that needs to not only be discussed, but processes need to change to prevent more of this sort of thing. 73, Grant KB7WSD ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Jill Filer <jfiler.tbc@gmail.com<mailto:jfiler.tbc@gmail.com>> Date: Wed, Oct 26, 2022 at 4:24 PM Subject: Blue Cell Training Discount for ARES volunteers To: Jill Filer <jillfiler@thebluecell.com<mailto:jillfiler@thebluecell.com>> Hello ARES Volunteers, I wanted to take a minute and reach out and introduce myself and The Blue Cell. My name is Jill Filer, I am the Internal Sales and Marketing Coordinator for the Blue Cell, LLC. We are an in person and virtual Incident Command System and Consequence Management Training Company. We have been training emergency and consequence managers for 13 years. We have experience across the US in the operational, instructional, and exercise realms and we are the world leader in online trainings and exercises in the Emergency and Consequence Management Disciplines. We know that Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers are such a valuable part of the team for communication needs during disasters, with community events and so much more! ARES, we see you and recognize just how important you are and the work that you do. We also know that training is imperative so we would like to thank you for all you do and offer ARES volunteers 50% off any of our training courses, use code ARES22 https://thenimsstore.com/discount/ARES22. We offer in person, virtual instructor led, hybrid courses on weekdays and weekends, as well as exercises from our pre developed packages to tabletops, functional, full scale and more. I am available by email, text or call if you have questions or want to know more! Please share this email with your club members. I look forward to hearing from you. Jill Jill Filer Internal Sales and Marketing Coordinator The Blue Cell, LLC 970-580-1231 jillfiler@thebluecell.com<mailto:jillfiler@thebluecell.com> "The World's most active in-person and virtual Incident Command System and Consequence Management training and exercise company." To unsubscribe from future solicitations email jillfiler@thebluecell.com<mailto:jillfiler@thebluecell.com> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MicroHAMS-BoD" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to microhams-bod+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com<mailto:microhams-bod+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/microhams-bod/A8E4B4B0-C1C9-44C9-ABA9-F29B38602921%40hxcore.ol<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/microhams-bod/A8E4B4B0-C1C9-44C9-ABA9-F29B38602921%40hxcore.ol?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.