Privacy Breach...WWYD?

[Ishtyban]

Ok I went to sign up on a photo site tonight.
One that shares and also does prints.
Have never joined before.

So I put my email in and it says..
You already have an account.

Hmm..ok maybe DH signed me up.

so I asked for my password to be sent.
They did.

I signed in.
Its not me , its not my photos.
Loads of them. Kids, adults..

So i contact the live customer service and they say to just use another email.
What about the privacy issue?
I have this womans photos and her home address?

They said to just log out and make a new account and they will re set the password..

um...yeah morons that re set came straight back to my gmail account.

I asked them to reset it, they said they cannot.

what do I do?
I feel awful that I had access to a private account.

The photos are all from 2007..I didnt have this email account then.
But surely gmail didnt re use email addresses?

[sweetpeamummy]

They probably do reuse email addresses after a certain time. How long have you had it?

[Ishtyban]

weird that they would.
I mean i use mine for so many personal things.

I have had it 3 years.

[sweetpeamummy]

I agree, I use mine for business and personal use.
I just think it makes sense they reuse them because I guess it's like phone numbers and not limitless and there would be a supply and demand.
The online photo place would be more at fault because security measures should go beyond an email address. What about passwords?

[sweetpeamummy]

I just re-read your post about sending your password. Most places haves additional questions, ie What was your Mother's maiden name?, as additional security measures.

[Ishtyban]

but if they reuse, imagine the privacy ramifications.
my bank stuff is emailed, facebook is linked.

[sweetpeamummy]

It is so scary and look I don't know if they re-use or in your case it was an 'oversite'.
We had to change our Internet provider 2 years ago because Optus didn't cover our side of the road. The people living on the odd numbered side of the road could have optusnet but us even siders could not. So we HAD to change service providers.
Soooo not easy when you run a business. For a certain period our old email addresses were redirected but what if we missed an account to change.
Emails are such a personal thing but so is snail mail and people change their addresses all the time.

[TimTamsandTea]

I'd be tempted to try and make contact with the woman and explain the situation.
That would then give her the ability to remove the pictures.
Gives me the creeps thinking of a stranger looking through my personal photos ...

[NancyBlackett]

What about calling the Privacy Commission? Just to find out if they have breached anything and fix things for the future.

It seems really odd it is the same email address as yours.