# Eir webmail - can't access now though same password for many years



## elainem (21 Apr 2019)

Hi! I have an eir webmail account - and I have the same password for 15 years. It's really wierd password, so I doubt anyone has it. Anyway, I got into my emails today in work. However, when I came home this evening and tried to get in to my email account it said my log in could not be found. I typed everything in correctly, so I don't know what is wrong - I did it 9 or 10 times. When I went to look at the security questions to then try and reset my password - I didn't recognise the security questions - it's years ago since I answered them, and it's not the standard ones of what is your mother's maiden name. I will be lost without my email. I don't have eircom broadband or phoen, so techinical support won't deal with me. Is there anything I can do in this situaiton - my life is on my email  Is this a glitch with eircom again? Would really welcome any advice.


----------



## NoRegretsCoyote (22 Apr 2019)

Eircom webmail was an awful product when I ditched it for gmail in 2005. I doubt it has got any better. Why on earth are you still using it?


Eir will be legally obliged to give you access as it is your personal data. You may have to spend a lot of time on the phone and/or writing letters to them though.

Download your inbox, back it up, and then move to gmail.


----------



## 1dave123 (22 Apr 2019)

Hi ..... I have eir webmail too and this happens to me at least 2-3 times a year. On every occasion it has fixed itself - so I suggest u try again with the same password later today or tomorrow. Good chance it will be working fine again.


----------



## NoRegretsCoyote (22 Apr 2019)

1dave123 said:


> Hi ..... I have eir webmail too *and this happens to me at least 2-3 times a year.*



It's an awful service! Why on earth don't you change provider? After about a decade of badgering I finally convinced my dad to ditch it for gmail last year and he hasn't looked back.


----------



## banchang (29 Apr 2019)

NoRegretsCoyote said:


> Eircom webmail was an awful product when I ditched it for gmail in 2005. I doubt it has got any better. Why on earth are you still using it?
> 
> 
> Eir will be legally obliged to give you access as it is your personal data. You may have to spend a lot of time on the phone and/or writing letters to them though.
> ...



How far do they have to go back ? They delete mail after a certain age don't they ?


----------



## NoRegretsCoyote (30 Apr 2019)

banchang said:


> How far do they have to go back ? They delete mail after a certain age don't they ?


I am not an expert on the law.

I would think whatever is held on the server is legally yours.


----------



## Leo (30 Apr 2019)

NoRegretsCoyote said:


> I am not an expert on the law.
> 
> I would think whatever is held on the server is legally yours.



It depends on the service, some you will retain ownership, others insist you give them full ownership in return for providing the service.

Most such services are pretty careful so that their terms of service ensure they have limited to no responsibility for such data once you are no longer a customer.


----------



## Purple (30 Apr 2019)

Leo said:


> It depends on the service, some you will retain ownership, others insist you give them full ownership in return for providing the service.
> 
> Most such services are pretty careful so that their terms of service ensure they have limited to no responsibility for such data once you are no longer a customer.


How is that GDPR compliant?


----------



## Leo (30 Apr 2019)

Purple said:


> How is that GDPR compliant?



Most email contents don't come under GDPR protection, and GDPR places no obligation on the retention of such data, in fact it is recommended that companies delete sensitive data of past customers.

General data protection advice is if you need to send any covered PII over email that you only do so via encrypted attachments due to the ease at which email traffic can be intercepted / leaked.


----------



## Purple (30 Apr 2019)

Leo said:


> Most email contents don't come under GDPR protection, and GDPR places no obligation on the retention of such data, in fact it is recommended that companies delete sensitive data of past customers.
> 
> General data protection advice is if you need to send any covered PII over email that you only do so via encrypted attachments due to the ease at which email traffic can be intercepted / leaked.


Sure, but how do they claim ownership of the contents of your emails?


----------



## Leo (1 May 2019)

Purple said:


> Sure, but how do they claim ownership of the contents of your emails?



It's all in the small print, to get access to use the service, you need to accept their terms. Most people don't read these. Terms vary by provider, but at the very least you're giving them rights to scan and reuse any data you send or store via the service for marketing or other (at times vague) purposes, in some cases you effectively give them shared ownership where they can resuse or publish as they see fit.


----------

