Tell HN: YC companies scrape GitHub activity, send spam emails to users

Article summary

A YC company, Run Anywhere, and another company, Voice.AI, have been sending spam emails to GitHub users who contribute to repositories related to their field of business. The emails are unsolicited and appear to be based on scraped GitHub activity. The author of the post has contacted both companies and received no response, and has also reached out to GitHub and YC Ethics. The issue raises concerns about data privacy and consent.

Main themes

• YC company ethics
• GitHub data privacy
• unsolicited marketing emails
• GDPR violations
• email address privacy
• spamming and scamming
• business practices and ethics

What commenters say

• Some commenters believe that YC companies should be held to a higher standard and that spamming is a violation of ethical behavior.
• Others argue that unsolicited contact is a common business practice and not necessarily unethical.
• There is a suggestion that companies could make money by taking on cases of GDPR violations and suing spammers on behalf of individuals.
• A few commenters mention that they have also received similar spam emails and are frustrated with the lack of action taken by the companies and YC.
• Some argue that the GitHub API makes it easy to extract valuable leads, but this can be used for both good and bad purposes.
• Others propose that email address privacy features, such as those offered by GitHub, could help mitigate the issue.
• There is disagreement over whether YC's ethics policy is effective in preventing unethical behavior, with some citing examples of companies being booted for ethics violations.
• A few commenters express skepticism about the ability of individuals to take action against spammers and suggest that email service providers may be more effective in addressing the issue.