Why I Don't Use ScribeFire - REVISED

New Title - Why I Am Trying ScribeFire Again

This is an addition/revision/correction to the orignal blog which I posted earlier today. Ok, where do I begin? Only 6 hours after posting the original blog (see below), I received a response from the Product Manager of ScribeFire. That alone was a surprise. Sometimes, as a non-writer, you think that nobody reads your blog. What a shock to receive a response from a manager in the company whose privacy policy I critiqued. Ok, that's not the important stuff. The important stuff is what he clarified to me about ScribeFire's Privacy Policy. I will simply include his response since it will make more sense coming from him than me.

"Hi Lon,

My name is [removed], and I am the product manager of ScribeFire. I just wanted to clear up what our policy is to you.

In terms of our add-on, we do NOT collect ANY information about the user. No data is sent back to our servers. Nothing is stored in our systems. In fact, if you download off of the Mozilla website, we have absolutely no clue what occurs to the add-on (and plan to keep it this way).

All the username and password information is stored locally to your browser and is never sent to our servers.

The personally identifiable information you are referring to is only in reference to our website, specifically to our QuickAds advertising product. We use the personally identifiable information for things like paying out the money made to publishers. We do NOT resell any of this information.

The long and short of it is that if you are not using our QuickAds advertising product, we cannot track or have any knowledge of you.

...unless of course you create a blog post which allows us to respond!

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact me at [removed] and I will happily help you in anyway I can."

I sincerely apologize for my incorrect assumptions concerning the privacy policy and stand corrected. However, I do believe (and have stated this in an email response) that ScribeFire's Privacy Policy could and should be stated more clearly.

And yes, he did include his email address. The fact that he responded after reading my post, and in such a friendly professional manner, earns ScribeFire a second chance, let alone the fact that I got the "Privacy Policy" all wrong. And yes, I am trying ScribeFire again. I will give my critique of it in an upcoming blog.

- Original Blog - Posted 7:06 a.m. Eastern U.S.

ScribeFire has apparently become a very popular way for Firefox users to blog because of its features, ease of use and the ability to easily include ads within the blog. However, I refuse to use ScribeFire and will not use it in the future because of their lack of privacy with my personal information. They admit in their "Privacy Policy" to sharing "personally identifiable information" with 3rd parties. What??? This is a company to whom you are handing your blogging username and password information. Granted - they would be in huge trouble if they shared that information. However, they are still collecting information about you as a blogger and sharing with "Authorized Customers." That is completely unacceptable to me. I did not create a blog in order to be selected by marketers to receive their offers. If that is what other bloggers want, good for them. They can keep using ScribeFire. I'll pass.