Nextdoor neighborhood app sends letters on its users’ behalf

guest · Aug 27, 2019

Nextdoor neighborhood app sends letters on its users’ behalf
August 27, 2019
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/priva...orhood-app-sends-letters-on-its-users-behalf/

Dutch police departments and consumer organizations issued warnings about the use of the Nextdoor neighborhood app because people received letters (yes, as in snail-mail) pretending to come from someone in their neighborhood, which the alleged senders did not send or deliver. So, everyone figured there must be some kind of scam going on and decided to warn the public.

We talked to a woman whom we’ll refer to as W.H., as she wishes to remain anonymous. Letters in her neighborhood were delivered with her as the sender.
In a blog where Nextdoor explains (in Dutch) how this invitation model came to be, they point out that when you first register with the app, it also asks for your permission to send out invitations to your neighbors.

This may indicate that there are members who didn’t even get the email W.H. received to ask whether she wanted to invite 100 extra neighbors.
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Privacy policy
One effect that the commotion about the letters has invoked is that the Nextdoor privacy policy was held against the light by consumer organizations. The Dutch “Consumentenbond” finds the policy leaves too much room for privacy infringements and expects it will be a tough battle in court for all those that feel let down or even betrayed by the company.

To be fair, we should expect an amount of targeted advertising when we sign up for free apps like these. It is important to remember that when it comes to free apps, there is a good possibility that you and your personal data are the commodities.
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Nextdoor neighborhood app sends letters on its users’ behalf

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