Online Dating

The Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, has launched an investigation into an online dating site. While this is a Canadian probe it does not mean it is a Canadian owned and operated dating site, it could be a dating site that offers services in Canada. This is the first time the Privacy Commissioner has investigated a dating service, but they have investigated social networking sites before. Facebook was investigated last year (see Story) and was found to be in violation of Canadian privacy laws.

The unnamed dating site is being investigated on how it handles members profile information once the membership has been deactivated. This was the same reason Facebook was under investigation. A complaint filed 6 months ago prompted the investigation of the dating site. The privacy issue was not resolved through mediation with the company and the Privacy's Commissioners office, so an official investigation was started. More news about this case will be released soon.

eHarmony has teamed up with 80's band REO Speedwagon and launched a contest that allows couples who found each other on eHarmony to showcase their love by submitting a video of them singing one of REO Speedwagon's songs. Submitted videos will be voted on by the general public to determine the best one. There will be a prize package for 10 of REO Speedwagon's concert dates on their "Love on the Run" tour which the winners will receive a pair of tickets for the show and dinner backstage served by members of REO Speedwagon.

When contestants submit their video (on the eHarmony Youtube channel) you need to tag the video for the concert date you wish to attend. Videos can be sung or lip-synched and eHarmony encourages you to be as creative as possible (as long as it is rated PG).

For more on the contest including the full terms and what concert dates the contest is for, read the Official eHarmony Blog and for more details on this dating site you can read our eHarmony.com review.

There is a Free Communication Weekend (FCW) coming up this holiday weekend. From Friday July 2nd, 2010 and right till the end of Monday, July 5th, 2010 eHarmony here in North America (United States and Canada) will be allowing all members to communicate for free. For Canada, July 1st is the country's birthday (Canada Day) and in the United States, July 4th is Independence Day. With 2 holiday weekends this FCW will sure be busy. Remember free members get to experience most features of a paid membership and all without needing a Credit Card. Features not included in this promotion are profile pictures and Fasttracking the guided communication process.

The last free event was held on Memorial Day Weekend about 5 weeks ago (see Story). This Free Communication Weekend will be eHarmony's 26th.

For more information on this popular dating site, read our eHarmony.com review.

Religious singles who are looking for love are turning to niche online dating sites for help in their searches. According to a recent article in The Denver Post, these singles are looking for someone to marry who shares their faith and values.

Dating website CatholicMatch.com boasts 150,000 active members and is the largest online dating pool of single Catholics. Its founder Brian Barcaro explains, "I think because of the high divorce rate and number of broken families, there is a resurgence in people looking carefully at what makes a successful marriage. They are turning back to their faith."

Barcaro says the website tries to serve a broad spectrum of Catholics, but it does include important religious questions such as mass attendance and adherence to church teachings on issues like contraception and premarital sex.

Some subscribers such as Erin McCabe, who has been on the site for four years, say that their faith and religious life have been enhanced since joining.

Barcaro was a law student looking to meet people when he launched the dating website back in 2003. Its tagline, "Grow in faith, Fall in love" is the reason Catholic singles find this option so appealing.

As Christina Newman states, before she married a man she met through CatholicMatch.com, "I was having a really hard time finding a young Catholic man who was willing to go to Mass with me and practice the faith." Also, many of her friends had divorced, and Newman wanted more reassurance her union would last.

Religious dating sites seem to fill a void for those who are looking for commitment and shared values. Turning to faith provides them more opportunities in finding love.

For more information on this dating service, read our review of CatholicMatch.com.

On March 26th the owner of Executive Dating, Barrie Turner, was arrested (see Story) when he attempted to cross into the United States from Canada. He ran over 200 web sites for dating and was trying to reach his postal mailbox in the United States where members send their fees.

Over 100 consumer complaints have been filed against Executive Dating web sites where members paid almost $1000 for 6 month memberships and where matched with people that did not exist. Barrie Turner collected $1.2 million in fees before his arrest and has now pleaded guilty to mail fraud in a Seattle court.

Sentencing will happen on September 24th where Barrie Turner will face a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

For more on this story, check out the following forum posts, here and here.

It looks like members of PlentyofFish.com will have another way soon to access the dating site. In a few weeks (July, 2010) an iPhone Application will be released which will allow members to access the dating site directly on their iPhone, iTouch and iPad. No information has been released yet on what features will be available on the dating application but I assume profile editing, searching and sending messages will be possible. I am curious to see if location based dating will be included with this new application.

Since an iPhone POF Dating App will be here soon I wonder how far off an application for Android will be? Android mobile phones are now outselling the iPhone here in the States.

To find out about POF, you can read our review of PlentyofFish.com.