"We take privacy seriously and we value yours."

[Guest]

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[Jan & John]

I wonder what would happen if I list my location as MicroPlace...   

 

-jan-

[tomgray]

I wonder what would happen if I list my location as MicroPlace...   

Good question.  Kiva provides a far richer Web experience and is very tempting, but MicroPlace seems to get the job done in a no-frills, businesslike way that, IMHO, shows more respect for lenders and their money.

[YowieFreak]

I received an email this evening from Ali (Kiva Customer Service Manager) saying (in part):

We have been notified that a Kiva lender reached out to you using our
lender message feature to promote a link to a browser add-on. Kiva's
Terms of Use prohibits users from engaging in solicitation of any kind
through our website, even if the cause they are promoting is a good
one.

Now my first thought about what she was talking about (and probably still my best guess) is that she was referring to the solicitation email about Kiva Cards I recently received, rather than about "browser add-ons".

But, if she really is talking about someone having notified her that another Lender has written something to me in a Lender message, that begs the question:- how does anyone know what was contained in a Lender message between another Lender and myself?!?!?!

Has there been some major privacy breach which has permitted users to access other users' private messages?!?!  Or are Kiva staff accessing our messages without our knowledge?!?!

[Christopher]

I also received the same email from Ali (Kiva Customer Service Manager) and I suspect it was an email sent to all Kiva lenders...

Kiva might well be able to view "private" messages, just as any administrator can view emails or messages sent via their system if they choose to do so (in fact email is unsecured and anyone with the know-how can view unencrypted messages sent via the interwebs - and probably even encrypted ones).

But, if she really is talking about someone having notified her that another Lender has written something to me in a Lender message, that begs the question:- how does anyone know what was contained in a Lender message between another Lender and myself?!?!?!

Has there been some major privacy breach which has permitted users to access other users' private messages?!?!  Or are Kiva staff accessing our messages without our knowledge?!?!

[hjs]

I also received the same email from Ali (Kiva Customer Service Manager) and I suspect it was an email sent to all Kiva lenders...

Nope . . .  I didn't get one.     

[smiles]

Many people wrote to Kiva to let them know this email was circulating, and some may have forwarded the email. Also, many Kiva staff are members of teams and would have received the email themselves.

[David2051]

Many people wrote to Kiva to let them know this email was circulating, and some may have forwarded the email. Also, many Kiva staff are members of teams and would have received the email themselves.

I got the message from this user that was in German, about a browser add-on that would generate money for good causes, or something like that.  It was a private message, not a team message.  I asked Mona about it since I don't really speak German...  If many people were complaining about it I'm sure Kiva knew the senders ID and I'm also sure they know who he sent messages to and when.  By the time Mona looked at it the user had been marked anonymous. 

There is a certain creep factor here, but if the messages were a violation of the terms of use it's good that Kiva is taking care of it.  They probably should have replied only to people that complained about it in the first place...

[cpbailey]

Yes!  I did get the German one.  I babelfish translated it, and then deleted it.

Colette

[Ali]

But, if she really is talking about someone having notified her that another Lender has written something to me in a Lender message, that begs the question:- how does anyone know what was contained in a Lender message between another Lender and myself?!?!?!

Has there been some major privacy breach which has permitted users to access other users' private messages?!?!  Or are Kiva staff accessing our messages without our knowledge?!?!

Thanks for your concern about this. Many staff members received this message, and we received hundreds of reports from lenders. We were able to see who the sender had sent messages to in the past two days, and that was how we were able to draw the list that I emailed yesterday about the message.

[YowieFreak]

Thanks for your concern about this. Many staff members received this message, and we received hundreds of reports from lenders. We were able to see who the sender had sent messages to in the past two days, and that was how we were able to draw the list that I emailed yesterday about the message.

So I assume from that that you sent the email to all lenders that the person had sent private messages to, irrespective of whether he/she had sent a "solicitation" message to that lender - i.e. you didn't read the private correspondence between him/her and me, you just worked on the assumption that his/her correspondence with all lenders contained the same information as was sent to the Kiva staff?

At least that's a bit better than having to think that Kiva staff might have intruded upon my private correspondence with another lender without even asking me first.