Sky picks up a few tips from Facebook.....

In the UK, Sky - the satellite TV subsidiary of the Murdoch empire - has just come up with a real beauty.

Every month it sends its subscribers a glossy magazine full of direct mail inserts which people immediately throw in the bin.

This month, as part of this immediately binnable junk, is a 'letter' to all Sky subscribers announcing a change in its information policy. From now on, it tells anybody bothering to read the tiny grey print at the very bottom of the second page of a small A5 leaflet designed to look as boring as possible, "Information held by the Sky group about you may also be shared with other companies outside the group, including for sales, marketing and market research purposes by such companies, unless you indicate that you wish to be excluded from such uses by contacting us on 08702 40 40 40".

So Sky is turning its customer database into a new spamming moneymaking machine: a database that could have a record of every TV programme you have ever watched via its platform. And if you don't want this to happen, you have to pay Sky to stop it - because the 08702 number is a premium phone line.