A couple of weeks ago I started a post with this nugget of, uh, wisdom: This should be a vendor's first rule when inviting 1,200 IT pros to a seminar about securing data and protecting personal information: Make sure you protect the personal information of the 1,200 professionals you're trying to impress.

I didn't think the second rule required mentioning at the time, but I've been proven wrong, so here is rule No. 2: If you make the mistake of breaking rule No. 1, don't be foolish enough to do it again.

Verizon has done it again ... to the same people.

David Williams, technology coordinator for a Texas school district, was the fellow who told me about the original fumbling. He wrote then: "In a period of three hours I received 14 e-mails promoting Verizon's 'Secure the Information. Secure the Infrastructure' webinar series ... Considering their content (about data-breach seminars), I thought it very humorous that the TO: field of the e-mails contained over 1,200 e-mail addresses."

Verizon apologized for the goof-up and blamed a problem with Microsoft Exchange.

However, Williams yesterday sent me this message:

"Update on Verizon. Just received the e-mail from Verizon promoting the Texas DIR seminar series 14 more times last night between 9:36 and 11:53 p.m. Same e-mail as before, same 1,200-plus e-mail addresses. ... Looks like a relay server resent the e-mails from Oct 7th again?"

Can you believe it?

Williams sent the e-mail headers, so you can believe it.

Note to Verizon: If you've already broken rules No. 1 and No. 2 when inviting 1,200 IT pros to a seminar about protecting personal information, be aware that there is no rule No. 3. You're in uncharted waters.