273 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
273 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
-------forwarded message follows--------cut here------8<------8<------8<------
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******* IMPORTANT ******** THIS IS *VERY* IMPORTANT ******* PLEASE READ *****
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Date: 26 Nov 90 13:57:58 +0000
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>From: rsalz@bbn.com (Rich Salz)
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Subject: National Lotus Database
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Lotus Development Corporation has a new product due out in 1991, called
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"Household Marketplace." It's a database on CDROM. It has the estimated
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income and a profile of the buying habits of 120 million US residents.
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That's a high percentage of the US population -- the odds are pretty good
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that YOU are in the Lotus database.
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A Lotus spokesman has said that the company is concerned about privacy
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issues, so to help prevent misuse of the data only legitimate businesses
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can get the disk. With easy access to a laser printer, a POBox, and/or a
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fax machine, however, it is hard to see how Lotus can determine the
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legitimacy of anyone, however, and I'm sure that with minor effort almost
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anyone will be able to purchase Marketplace. The cost, by the way, is
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under $1000 with quarterly updates available.
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The database does not contain any of the data covered by the Fair Credit
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Practices Act so Lotus is under no legal obligation to let you see what
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they are saying about you. In fact, during interviews they have said that
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there is NO WAY for an individual to review their personal data, nor are
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there any provisions to make corrections on what is recorded.
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Lotus will remove anyone from their database who writes to them.
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Send a letter to:
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Lotus Development Corp.
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Attn: Market Name Referral Service
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55 Cambridge Parkway
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Cambridge, MA 02142
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------- End of Forwarded Message
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>From: RGB::SEILER "Larry Seiler, 225-4077, HL2-1/J12 12-Dec-1990 1144"
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------- Forwarded Message
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Subj: Confirmation of Lotus' plan to sell data on individuals --
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including income estimates and addresses
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Folks,
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I recently forwarded a message about a new Lotus product -- a database
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on CDROM of 120M US residents with their estimated incomes and buying
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profiles. Someone questioned whether Lotus is really doing this, so
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I checked by calling Lotus and speaking to someone in pre-sales service.
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It really is true. Lotus is still gearing up to sell their "Household
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Marketplace" product, and it really does give information on individual
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people, not just regional statistical summaries. I learned the following
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(and I asked for literature, so I'll soon know even more):
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1) Yes, it really *DOES* have names and addresses of individuals.
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2) They have divided up the database by regions, and you specify
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the region you are interested in when you buy the product.
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That explains how they could have 120M people in their database
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and still sell you just 1 CD (or a few) for your purchase price.
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3) They also have a "Business Marketplace" CD with data on 7 million
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US businesses.
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I forebore yelling at the sales-type who handled my call, merely asking if
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there was a place to write with comments about the service. Apparently
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the sales types haven't heard of the controversy the product is raising,
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since she replied that several different reports can be generated by the
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product, and some of them do have space for comments.
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GREAT! So not only do they have the audacity to print an estimate of your
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income (which could be quite damaging if they get it wrong, and is an
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intrusion into your privacy if they get it right), they also have space
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on the disk for arbitrary comments about you -- and they'll be selling
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this data in volume to mass marketing companies across the country!
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In interviews, Lotus has said that individuals will NOT be able to correct
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their own entries, or even see what they are. I didn't try to confirm
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this in my call to Lotus, but I did confirm that the person who reported
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it -- Rich Salz of BBN -- has an excellent reputation on the internet.
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Also, everything he said that I checked with Lotus is absolutely accurate.
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Further, the Wall Street Journal has reported on it -- saying that the
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database has ages, marital status, and other such personal data as well.
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So I believe it, and you should to, since it is going to affect your life.
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Remember -- a database of 120 million US residents comes to almost half
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the people in the country. Considering that the database is probably
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biased toward those with higher incomes, the chances are *really good*
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that anyone able to electronically read this message is in the database.
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What can you do about it? A couple of things. Lotus has said that they'll
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omit from their database anyone who asks. Therefore, start by writing to
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the address below. Tell them that you don't want to be in the database,
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and tell them exactly what you think of their database. I've appended a
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copy of my letter to Lotus for an example.
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Second, pass this message along to anyone whom you think might care. To
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me, this is not just a matter of privacy. Lotus is going to sell information
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behind our backs -- we are not allowed to dispute their data or even know
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what it is. Worse, Lotus is going to sell rumors about our income. Still
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worse, they will do it on a scale never before achieved. This should not
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be tolerated. Please help to stop Lotus.
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Thanks,
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Larry Seiler
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Write to:
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Lotus Development Corp.
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Attn: Market Name Referral Service
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55 Cambridge Parkway
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Cambridge, MA 02142
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Here's my letter. Also send copies of your letter to the president and the
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CEO of Lotus, if you want to let those at the highest levels know that you
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are displeased with their product. I've also appended a net copy of the
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Wall Street Journal artical about it.
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198 Linden Street
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Boylston, MA 01505
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December 6, 1990
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Lotus Development Corp.
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Attn: Market Name Referral Service
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55 Cambridge Parkway
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Cambridge, MA 02142
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Dear Marketeers,
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I do not want my name included in your "Household Marketplace"
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CDROM database, nor that of anyone in my family, at any address I have
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ever lived at. To be specific, please make sure that the following
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entries are **NOT** included in your database:
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any last name (especially Seiler, Schmidt, Poffenberger, or Zwerner)
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at 198 Linden Street, Boylston MA
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any Seiler family name
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at 53 Oak Street, Waltham MA
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any Seiler family name
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at 77 Reed Road, Hudson MA
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As you have it set up, I think your "Household Marketplace" CDROM
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database is an incredible intrusion and ought to be illegal. I am a
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computer professional, so this opinion is not based on any native
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dislike of computers or databases. The problems I have with your
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proposed service involve the way in which you plan to administer it,
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the way in which the data will almost certainly be used, the type of
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data you are including, and my conviction that you will vigorously
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seek to avoid responsibility for errors in your database.
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First, administration. I have heard that you are not providing
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any means to correct errors in your database. The potential for long
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term damage to individuals from use of your database is therefore
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enormous. Even if an individual knows that your database is false,
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users of your database will almost certainly believe the CDROM data in
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spite of any disclaimers or evidence offered by the individual.
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Second, use of data. Given the fact that law enforcement
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agencies are nearly powerless to shut down obviously illegal
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boiler-room businesses, it is absurd for you to claim that you will
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only provide the data to legitimate businesses. You won't be able to
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prevent your product from being used to defraud individuals by huge
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numbers of illegal operations. One way or another, essentially any
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business who wants your database will be able to get it -- and it will
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be of special value to illegal and borderline businesses.
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Page 2
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Third, type of data. I understand that you plan to publish
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"income estimates". There is no legal way for you to verify income,
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unless an individual voluntarily provides that information. (I never
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do, except when the data is legally required to be held in
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confidence.) It is absolutely unacceptable for you to publish what
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amount to rumors about people's income. The possibilities for abuse
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are tremendous.
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Fourth, responsibility. I understand that you will not permit
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individuals to find out what information you are spreading about them.
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The only likely reason for this is that you don't want anyone to find
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out that your information about them is false. Therefore, while you
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will sell this product on the basis of providing reliable information,
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you aren't prepared to be responsible for the accuracy of your
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information, or for the damage that false information (or even true
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information) might cause.
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So as you see, my concerns about your product are not primarily
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about privacy, although privacy is involved. If you were prepared to
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take responsibility for the accuracy of your information, then I would
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be willing to accept your service. For example, you could send copies
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of the data entries to *each* individual in your database, with a
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request to write back if any of the data is incorrect or if they want
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to be removed from your listing. If you did this, and *made* the
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requested corrections, then I would feel that you were providing a
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positive service, rather than making abusive use of unverified data.
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In conclusion, if you market this product, it is my sincere hope
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that you are sued by every person for whom your data is false, with
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the eventual result that your company goes bankrupt. That would be a
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pity, since you make many fine products. However, that is preferable
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to permitting you to spread rumors and encourage abusive business
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practices. It would be better if your chief officers went to jail,
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but that will apparently require new laws to be passed. If you
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persist in your plans to market this product, a lot of people will be
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pushing to make that happen. I suggest that you abandon this project
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while there is time to do so.
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Yours most sincerely,
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Larry Seiler
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Lotus - New program spurs fears privacy could be undermined
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{The Wall Street Journal, 13-Nov-90, p. B1}
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Privacy advocates are raising the alarm about a new Lotus product that lists
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names, addresses, shopping habits and likely income levels for some 80 million
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U.S. households. Due for release early next year, Lotus Marketplace packs the
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data on palm-sized compact disks aimed at small and mid-sized businesses that
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want to do inexpensive, targeted direct-mail marketing. But critics say the
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product is just too good. "It's going to change the whole ball game," says
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Mary Culnan, an associate professor at Georgetown University's School of
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Business Administration. "This is a big step toward people completely losing
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control of how, and by whom, personal information is used." Janlori Goldman, a
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staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, adds that the product
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raises "serious legal and ethical questions." Lotus' critics concede that the
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product offers little more than is already available from established
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mailing-list brokers. But they say it is a greater potential threat to personal
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privacy because of its low cost, ease of use and lack of effective safeguards
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over who ultimately has access to it and why. They also say that the way it is
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designed allows users to ask a series of increasingly specific questions about
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small subgroups of people - identifying, for example, unmarried, wealthy
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women over 65 in a neighborhood. "They've crossed the line," says Marc
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Rotenberg, Washington director for the nonprofit Computer Professionals for
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Social Responsibility. "It simply shouldn't be allowed on the market." Lotus
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counters that the product, still under development, has been tailored to
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address privacy concerns. No phone numbers will be included, it won't be
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available in retail stores and it will be sold only to "legitimate businesses"
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at verified addresses checked against a "fraud file," Lotus says. A contract
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will specifically limit its use and provide penalties for abuses. Owners will
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be be allowed unlimited use of the names and addresses they buy, at a cost of
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$695 initially for the program plus 5,0000 names and $400 for each additional
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5,000 names.
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- ------- End of Forwarded Message
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- ------- End of Forwarded Message from edw
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--
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Without American Veterans
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There would be no America
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Or American Freedoms
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edw@sequent.COM anybackbone!sequent!edw
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