Sharing e-mail addresses without permission

[loobster]

Just got an e-mail - which included (I am substituting XXXX for the actual surname):

"Please join The XXXX Surname Project at FTDNA.
Please add people, and details for people already in the tree,
to our / your tree at
MyHeritage.com
Aidova website
The most reliable tree is: "


The "To" for who it was sent to includes over 6 rows of e-mail addresses - meaning all these people I do not know have now been given my e-mail address, as well as the information that I apparently have some connection to surname XXXX.

Do others agree that is inappropriate?
Is it officially against FTDNA policy - and if so, can somebody point out where to me - or is it actually officially allowed?

[KATM]

I agree that it is inappropriate to send out an email to many recipients without using the "BCC:" field. It is a well-known "Netiquette" issue, as it violates the privacy of all those recipients. But for a project administrator, not protecting his project members' privacy may be beyond bad etiquette. In the FTDNA Learning Center, there is a page for "Group Project Administrator Terms & Policies." Under item #4, part A, it says:

In particular, the personal data accessible only through the GAP, such as email addresses and/or other identifying or personal information, must not be shared with other members of theproject or with any other individual without the member’s express written consent.

You might contact the FTDNA Group Administrator Team, as shown in item #10 on the above page, to ask if the above statement applies to your situation.

[karwiso]

Answer this person and point out that it is not ok to mass-mail and just give out e-mail addresses to everyone. You can also mention about BCC and that you recommend to use it the future.
Then it is generally good practice writing personal e-mails.