New York Times | BetaBeat | @yurivictor | GigaOm | Storify by Elana Zak
The New York Times has determined that a mass email sent to subscribers was an error, not the result of spam or hacking.
“We regret that the error was made, but no one’s security has been compromised,” spokeswoman Eileen Murphy told the Times.
-
- The Times emailed a correction note to readers and also posted a note on its homepage about the error.
The email, which I received around 1:15 p.m., contains “Important information regarding your subscription,” according to the subject line, and offers a special home delivery rate for subscribers who recently cancelled. Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha initially told the paper the message was spam, but “others familiar with The Times’s technical operations said it was unclear whether it was spam or possibly an erroneous mass e-mail.”
Times reporter Amy Chozick tweeted at 3:29 p.m.: ” ‘The email was sent by the NYT,’ a spokeswoman said. Should’ve gone to appx 300 people & went to over 8 mil.” The email went to 8.6 million people who have given the paper their email addresses.
Yuri Victor, the Washington Post’s user experience director, traced the email sender to IP addresses owned by Epsilon Marketing. “It looks as though @nytimes gave Epsilon permission to send emails on its behalf. So this was likely just a mistake,” he tweets. “It was likely meant to go to a specific email group (cancels) and someone checked send to all by accident. Just a guess.” Tracking by Colleen Taylor at GigaOm also led back to Epsilon, which was hacked last March in a security breach that exposed thousands of customer email addresses. Epsilon spokesperson Jessica Simon told BetaBeat about the Times email, “This is the first I’ve heard of it. Let me talk with our email group and get back to you.”
The Times says the email was not sent by Epsilon, but by a Times employee, who appears to have made the type of mistake Victor described.
The paper sent a follow-up email to subscribers Wednesday afternoon. It reads:
Dear New York Times Reader,
You may have received an e-mail today from The New York Times with the subject line “Important information regarding your subscription.”
This e-mail was sent by us in error. Please disregard the message. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
Sincerely,
The New York Times
The original email reads:
Dear Home Delivery Subscriber,
Our records indicate that you recently requested to cancel your home delivery subscription. Please keep in mind when your delivery service ends, you will no longer have unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps.
We do hope you’ll reconsider.
As a valued Times reader we invite you to continue your current subscription at an exclusive rate of 50% off for 16 weeks. This is a limited-time offer and will no longer be valid once your current subscription ends.*
Continue your subscription and you’ll keep your free, unlimited digital access, a benefit available only for our home delivery subscribers. You’ll receive unlimited access to NYTimes.com on any device, full access to our smartphone and iPad® apps, plus you can now share your unlimited access with a family member.†
To continue your subscription call 1-877-698-0025 and mention code 38H9H (Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. E.D.T.).
Comments