Heading into freedom weekend, THREAT LEVEL decided to ask readers to indulge in some free speech, whistle blowing, corporate bashing by submitting and voting on which companies have the worst privacy practices. Spammers, squealers and slimy data sellers are all fair game.

For instance, Just a couple weeks ago, I bought a couple tickets to see Sonic Youth perform its Daydream Nation album in its entirety. The tickets were $35 a piece (ouch) and Ticketmaster's usurious fees that reached 33% of the tickets face value, put the tickets at over $90.

But the kicker came in my inbox where Ticketmaster and concert promoter Live Nation began sending me spam almost immediately. Both companies believe that the mere fact that I bought a ticket for a show through Ticketmaster means they have the right to add me to their spam lists without asking. Admittedly, this is legal under the CAN-SPAM Act, but that doesn't make it right. I emailed privacy contacts at both Ticketmaster and Live Nation, but neither has responded and their spam keeps coming.

So I'm nominating both Ticketmaster and Live Nation as entrants in this tally of the companies with the worst spam and privacy practices. But I'm certain my pet peeves won't last long in the top ten.

Nominate and vote up your corporate privacy villians below.

Submit a Violator

While you can submit as many corporate privacy villains as you want, you can only submit one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed.

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