In an incident many artists, marketers, and consultants warned us about for months, a well-meaning photographer feels the consequences – and wrath – of solicitation without preparation.
Updated 7:17 AM PST, Mon May 28, 2018
Los Angeles boudoir photographer James S. Fancy woke up to an alarming email early Monday morning. It was from his sole email list subscriber, 37-year-old Gert Blumenschtol, a Berlin software engineer who received Fancy’s unsolicited email about his upcoming photography exhibition late Saturday afternoon.
“HERE I WAS, ENJOYING MY SATURDAY,” Blumenthal told us over email in all caps, “and this data thief interrupted me with the audacity to invite me to his art show." He continued, removing all caps. " I live on another continent. What gives him the right? I’m sure someone on Mars has my social security # now. My lawyers have filed suit.”
Mr. Blumenthal's case is especially strong because Fancy omitted an essential detail from his invitation, a preface stating:
Due to new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guidelines, we are reaching out to assure you that we won't share your information with anyone. We rely on your consent to share news and updates. If you would like to continue receiving our updates, you don't need to do anything. If you would prefer to unsubscribe, please use the link below.
We contacted Fancy for a comment but he has yet to respond. He did, however, make a post on Instagram letting his followers know that if they wanted to continue seeing his posts - you know, because of the algorithm and whatnot - they should make sure to turn Instagram notifications ON.
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If you've gotten this far, consider this a belated or super-early April Fools. Yes, we understand that the GDPR is important, and we support data protection to the fullest – hey, we even sent our own version of the GDPR acknowledgment last week – but sometimes it's ok to have a sense of humor about ourselves and our community.