Train2Game Spammed My Inbox

So yesterday, I got yet more spam in my inbox, amongst the usual crap pretending to be from banks I have no accounts with, and Nigerian scams (it is quite sad to have a type of scam named after an entire country, I feel for the innocent populous there) I got an unsolicited email from a company called Scienta Data Ltd, under the trading name of Train2Game.

"This email was sent to you using data that has opted in to receiving information from third parties" it said, well bollocks to that I say. I am, and have always been, religious in my ticking (and not ticking) of checkboxes that opt out (or don't opt in) to third party emails. Because I hate spam, I get enough genuine mail in my inbox without having to deal with some company trying to sell me crap I have no interest in, and in my opinion actually don't believe is remotely capable of delivering anything like what it promises.

You see this company is flogging distance learning in what it calls "Computer Games Developer and Designer" courses. Yeah guys, I'm sure people doing this course will earn £20-£25k in their first year and get a "secure future" with "transferable skills." Actually no, I am pretty sure that you won't, all you will be is a fair few quid worse off.

Trouble is, everyone thinks they can design a great computer game, much like they can do a better job of managing our national football team. This sort of course (and the marketing behind it) just seems to me to feed on that niavety.

Want to know more about Train2Game? Read more on the wonderfully bitter Sega obsessed site UK Resistance who were apparently threatened with legal action for bitching about this company, or read about them on NewRetro.

Anyway I digress a bit, my real annoyance here is how stupidly pointless UK anti-spam leglislation is. Firstly it doesn't cover spam sent to anything other than private addresses, secondly I've complained to the authorities through official channels about spam I am getting to my personal address (which was farmed years ago from a gaming website that stupidly made them public) yet they never fine anybody.

That's the problem, if the worst that can happen to you as a company (or even an individual if you are one of those annoying sellers on ebay who thinks just because someone bought something off you they can spam you as well) is someone says stop sending emails to this person, where is the deterrant to be respectful of people's right not to receive unsolicited email? The law is supposed to allow the government to fine you, but I've never heard of it happening, so it is about as useless as those signs which tell you letting your dog crap on the park can result in it costing you money.

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