"Hi Stephane, any thoughts on the note below that I sent you a few days ago?" - from someone at The Chat Shop (whom I couldn't find here on LI, which makes it suspicious right there for someone with the title “new business"). This type of #spam #emailmarketing automation needs to be denounced. I'm sure you get a lot of it too - but most people are afraid to publicly report players who continue to use tactics that are now considered unethical and, in this case, probably illegal under the #GDPR and, since I'm in Canada, under the Canadian anti-spam legislation (known as CASL). Of course, on its cookie and #privacy page, this UK-based company claims to be GDPR compliant and states, "Your privacy is important to us at The Chat Shop Ltd (“us” or “we”) and we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy." Yeah. BS. When I asked how he got my email from Laval University (which is not used for business), this "Owen," who has no LinkedIn profile and with whom I've never had contact, replied, "I pull databases together myself using desk research and social media then use various tools that identify email addresses." Yet, their privacy policy states: "We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased services from us and, in each case, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing. We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any company outside The Chat Shop Ltd group of companies for marketing purposes." More utter BS, so I emailed their privacy officer to file a formal complaint. This is what #NoConsentNoTracking is about - unethical and illegal #digitalmarketing practices, simply because data is so easy to harvest and exploit. Had this person known about this simple mantra, maybe he would have thought twice before spamming me. Note: some of you may find my approach of naming the company unprofessional or unethical. If I complained silently to their #privacyofficer, how many others would be spammed like this? I can only respond with what someone once told me: if a company is afraid that their marketing tactics will be criticized publicly, that's their problem, not mine.