This is sorta OT, but I've left it unlabeled.

I started to do a design in Sketchup a while back, and used the add-on
CutList. CutList generates what its name implies: a list of cut pieces
that are superimposed on a standard sized plank, and tries to maximize
wood useage or minimize waste. After it's done all of that it exports
the pieces and their dimensions to a format that can be opened with a
spreadsheet program. If you have coloured the pieces with a wood colour,
it will also specify the wood used in manufacture.

In my case, I'd used a mahogany colouring, so CutList assumed I was
specifying mahogany. It didn't matter to me, I just wanted some colour.

I copy/pasted the piece sizes along with material specification to an
email client and then emailed myself at work so I had a list of what I
needed when I went to buy the wood.

A few days later, I came home and my wife said that someone had called
and was ready to quote prices on the cut up pieces of wood that I
wanted, all in mahogany. In fact, they could ship that day if she would
give them a CC number. I'd never mentioned mahogany to her, so she
decided to give them my phone number at work and let me deal with it.
She was a bit surprised by the call, and didn't get the name of the
company. They never did call me at work, which is really interesting.

My email client includes my name in the "From" box, but no other
personal information. I won't say I've never given out my phone number
on web forms, but I don't ever recall giving it out to any wood
suppliers. In any event, it's not an unlisted number.

In the project that I drew up the plans for, I'm either going to use
select pine from the local guy, or use some oak that I have in-house.
I've never used mahogany in my life, and have no plans in the near
future to get prices on it.

Somehow, someone got the cutlist email, and called.

I don't know what to think here. My "sent" mail folder has no email that
goes to wood suppliers or anyone else that would have received that
email, other than my work account. I've got theories, but they're a bit
wild and involve cyber sniffing, which seems a bit over the top at this
point.

I suspect I will never know for sure.

Tanus wrote:
This is sorta OT, but I've left it unlabeled.

.... snip

A few days later, I came home and my wife said that someone had called
and was ready to quote prices on the cut up pieces of wood that I
wanted, all in mahogany. In fact, they could ship that day if she would
give them a CC number. I'd never mentioned mahogany to her, so she
decided to give them my phone number at work and let me deal with it.
She was a bit surprised by the call, and didn't get the name of the
company. They never did call me at work, which is really interesting.

My email client includes my name in the "From" box, but no other
personal information. I won't say I've never given out my phone number
on web forms, but I don't ever recall giving it out to any wood
suppliers. In any event, it's not an unlisted number.

.... snip

Somehow, someone got the cutlist email, and called.

Or perhaps they got the cutlist data, were able to associate it with
you, looked up your phone number, and called...

I don't know what to think here. My "sent" mail folder has no email that
goes to wood suppliers or anyone else that would have received that
email, other than my work account. I've got theories, but they're a bit
wild and involve cyber sniffing, which seems a bit over the top at this
point.

I suspect I will never know for sure.

Hmm - very disturbing. I'd be inclined to label it "industrial
espionage" and take it up with law enforcement.

SketchUp
CutList
spresdsheet program
home e-mail client (and plug-ins)
server chain
work e-mail client (and plug-ins)

It might be interesting to discover what kinds of data are being slurped
up from other users...

Just out of curiosity, was the e-mail sent using your gmail account?

Tanus wrote:

It's terrible to think that way, but nonetheless the thoughts happen.
The entire creed of "Don't be evil" had always struck me as sophmoric.
Having said that, I still use Google search 10 times a day on a slow
day, and love Sketchup. Google has almost become an indespensable aspect
of many people's lives. The pressure to turn that to self-serving at the
expense of the rest of us must at times be overwhelming.

Google is fine but because it seems indispensable and I'm a bit of a
non-conformist, I use http://clusty.com/ for my main search engine. I
have it in my Firefox search window as primary. It works just as good
as Google.

"SketchUp Guide Jody" <sketchup-guide-jodyg at (no spam) google.com> wrote in message
news:510f4a55-774d-4e39-8675-a27a13ef1619 at (no spam) b14g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...
Hi Tanus,

I'm Jody with the SketchUp Team and just wanted to chime in as well.
There is definitely nothing in SketchUp that collects any personal
information or distributes that information. The only time SketchUp
(the software) sends any information is when you authorize or access
your license and then we don't send any personal information. I'm in
the boat that its an email sniffing issue as well but don't have much
to suggest beyond that. Its great that there are so many willing and
knowledgable peers to help you track down the breach. Good luck
finding the culprit! Hopefully it won't take long to get this
straightened out and for you to be emailing and surfing in peace
again. (And of course drawing in SketchUp too!)

==============
Well, Guys. What do think of them apples? Speak His name and hear the
rustle of His wings. Where'd I put that tin-foil hat?

In article <P-ydncQELv8VohbXnZ2dnUVZ_sqdnZ2d at (no spam) pghconnect.com>,
Larry Blanchard <lblanch at (no spam) fastmail.fm> wrote:
The email address I use for posting to the usenet is obviously bogus.
There really isn't any need to get another address just for posting
purposes unless you actually want someone to reply to you personally.


And as I said, I do occasionally get such a reply.

My address is genuine and, by and large, I am happy for * people* to
contact me. Spam is rare though whether that's done to my ISP's filters or
my address I have no idea.