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OverDrive review: Privacy concerns

C
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2:56 pm EST
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Hello! I have a problem. The problem is that "Sora, by OverDrive Education" (that is the real app's name. I'll use "Sora" as a shorter way) is spamming notifications which this company owns this is OverDrive, Inc (I'll use "OverDrive as a shorter way). It started in Oct 2024 but
I do not know which day it was but they keep spamming it everyday, even during the holidays such as Christmas in Dec. They didn't ask me for any payments but they keep spamming some notifications for the past few months. I don't know how it started but I'm guessing they are hiding a secret code in their app that spams that, which that is illegal. The notification says that my IT has access to my location, even though that is false and I never shared it with anyone. I tried turning off my location but they keep spamming. I tried turning off the notifications from that app but they keep turning that back on and continue spamming. And I even contacted support but they never fixed the issue.

Here are the reasons why this is not ok with spam notifications like this (sorry for any info that I made some mistakes on some parts if I made any mistakes):
1. Violation of privacy laws: Sending false notifications about accessing someone's location without consent which violates the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) or the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) and these type of laws protect everyone's info such as personal info and requires consent before doing actions
2. Deceptive practices: False notifications fall into the category deceptive practices, which it is not allowed according to the Federal Trade Commission Act and misleading users about their location being accessed can cause stress, even if someone's location was turned off, they keep spamming it
3. Psychological impact: Getting false notifications like this about someone accessing their location can cause stress (as mentioned before). People with this would be worried because they are thinking that someone from OverDrive is stealing data such as emails, location, game data (like Fruit Ninja), and many other things which makes users to sue the company and can be reported to the government because of that privacy concern
4. Security risks: False notifications (someone's IT has access to someone's location, even though, it is false) can make users think it is a real security threat. If people are getting a lot of false notifications like this, then they think their things (such as personal info) would be a risk.
5. Consumer trust: If the app continues to spam notifications everyday, then the users will stop using the app and makes the usage decrease and will report it to court or the government
6. Legal consequences: Companies that spams notifications can face legal consequences, fined, lawsuits, and enforcement action and this would impact OverDrive which the one owns Sora that keeps spamming without consent
7. Not allowed for pranking: It should never be for pranking purposes because of these reasons:
- Any prank that is a false claim that someone's location has been accessed can cause stress (as mentioned before)
- Pranking someone with false notifications from Sora without someone's consent loses trust and privacy and should require consent before doing this to make trust
- Pranks that are like this make the government take action. It is not a legal prank to do. It's the same thing as #6 I mentioned up here
8. Spambots: If it is used as a spambot (a hidden code inside the Sora app) that sends false notifications, it is illegal because it violates anti-spam laws such as the CAN-SPAM Act, and breaches privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA. This is called harassment and can cause security risks to the people

With all of that, it should be taken action as soon as possible
However, I am trying to make this company stop making this by contacting support but they provided bad responses or never responded (possibly delays) without a reason.

My first thing I would say is do a fine with a warning to OverDrive. If they continue to do this after that, then I would say take the Sora app down in the Google Play Store or the App Store and report that to the government about privacy concerns.

Thanks for reading

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Update by Caden Nguyen
Feb 19, 2025 6:33 pm EST

Hello! In addition to my response, I contacted support but they never fixed it. When I first contacted support, they said I need it's my IT's thing which I know that is false and I asked them to check the code of the app but they don't even check the code of the app and when I keep contacting OverDrive's support every week or every 2 weeks, they never respond without a reason and it's making me go crazy because it started a few months ago and it continues. If you look at the picture or the file I provided, that is what the notification was spamming me

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Update by Caden Nguyen
Feb 24, 2025 11:43 pm EST

Hello! In addition to my another response, I'm guessing that there is a spambot that spams notifications which it is illegal and I read it on https://www.anura.io/fraud-tidbits/is-bot-spamming-illegal and in one of the sentences in one of the paragraphs, it says "In many jurisdictions, activities that deceive users or exploit systems for fraudulent gains are illegal.". And that also means that OverDrive should not do this as this issue should be quickly taken as soon as possible

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