New York Times Accidentally Spams 8 Million People

This afternoon, a bunch of people - myself included - received an email from “[e-mail],” subj line: “Important information regarding your subscription” asking to renew their NYT home delivery subscription they had not signed up for.

1. This Is The Email

2. The New York Times Quickly Tweeted That This Email Was Not From Them

Liz Heron, NYT Social Media Editor

Robert Christie, SVP, Corporate Communications,

5. Why Did It Go To This Group Of People?

Business Insider reports that it appears to be related to the April ‘11 hacking of Epsilon Interactive’s email database. The “email.newyorktimes.com” domain is registered with Epsilon. Betabeat contacted Epsilon, whose spokesperson said that this was the first they were hearing about the incident. On the New York Time’s Media Decoder blog, NYT spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha says that they’re “working on a coordinated response.”

6. UPDATE: The New York Times Did Send Out Those Emails

NYT’s Corporate media reporter Amy Chozick

8. Currently, The Member Center Is Not Working Properly (Presumably, It’s Being Bombarded With Traffic)

NYT iPad subscriber Steve Melfi told us that he currently can’t access his purchase history and the site is not recognizing him as an iPad subscriber.

10. UPDATE: New York Times Sent Out Apology Emails