Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!limbo!taylor From: Doug Borchard@lotus.com (Doug Borchard) Newsgroups: comp.society Subject: Lotus MarketPlace and Consumer Privacy Message-ID: <1567@limbo.Intuitive.Com> Date: 3 Jan 91 00:45:29 GMT Sender: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com Organization: Lotus Corporation Lines: 129 Approved: taylor@Limbo.Intuitive.Com In response to recent messages that have appeared here about Lotus MarketPlace, we want to provide some hard facts that we hope will clear up some of the misinformation surrounding our product. Lotus MarketPlace: Households is a CD-ROM database of names and addresses on U.S. consumers, which businesses use for direct marketing. It is a small -- but highly visible -- part of a multibillion direct marketing industry that helps businesses deliver products and services to interested consumers through compiled lists and databases. Some people argue that the information collected in Lotus MarketPlace: Households should not be available. However, this information is already readily available, either as a matter of public record or through thousands of other commercial lists and database sources. For example, the 1990 Boston Yellow Pages alone lists more than 50 mailing list brokers. Access to information is one of the benefits of a free society. In developing MarketPlace, Lotus and its data provider, Equifax Marketing Decision Systems, have strived to balance the right to privacy with the freedom of information that is a hallmark of our society. In developing MarketPlace, Lotus and Equifax Marketing Decision Systems have implemented a number of controls that go far beyond traditional industry practices for consumer privacy protection. Besides limiting the data to what is readily available as a matter of public record, Census data profiling, and similar sources most people can already access, we have taken three additional and important steps: 1) we are offering the product only to legitimate businesses; 2) we are providing consumers with an option to have their names removed from the database; and 3) we are educating and advising users of the proper legal and ethical responsibilities for list usage. What's in Lotus MarketPlace: Households Name Address Age range Gender Marital status Dwelling type Estimated neighborhood income (based on neighborhood average at the 9-digit zip code level) Neighborhood lifestyle What's not in Lotus MarketPlace: Households Telephone numbers Individual credit data (number of credit cards, spending levels, balances, etc.) An individual's purchase history An individual's actual income An individual's actual age Lotus MarketPlace: Households does not include individual credit data and thus cannot be used to determine the credit worthiness of an individual. Privacy Safeguards: Product Features No telephone numbers Inability to directly look up a single name Ability to print/export names and addresses only (versus full records) Elderly people aggregated into a category "65 and older" Database includes decoy names that will receive sample mailings Direct Marketing Association guidelines inserted into retail package Privacy Safeguards: Purchase Process Only sample data included in retail package Signed data order form completed by purchaser Software license agreement outlines prohibited uses of the product Product sold only to registered businesses Approval and verification process of purchaser conducted prior to delivery of actual data discs Consumer Name Removal Options: Consumers can "opt out" of the Lotus MarketPlace: Households database by doing one of two things: Write the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service to remove their names from MarketPlace and from all other lists that participate in this nationwide service at: Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service P.O. Box 3861 New York, NY 10163-3861 Write Lotus with a request to remove their names from Lotus MarketPlace: Households at: Lotus Development Corporation MarketPlace Name Removal Service 55 Cambridge Parkway Cambridge, MA 02142 To expedite accurate name removal from MarketPlace, individuals should include the following information in their correspondence: name, address, social security number, and signature. Because MarketPlace is a subscription-based product that will be updated quarterly, the name-removal process will be ongoing and open to consumers at their discretion. Because of the normal turnover in the data, it is expected that a majority of MarketPlace users will elect the subscription option, thereby minimizing the amount of "old" MarketPlace information in use. Chances are that if a consumer is included in the MarketPlace database, he/she is included in many other databases and lists. Consumers concerned with being on any lists should therefore direct their name removal requests to the DMA. Direct Marketing Association's Ethical Guidelines: Lotus endorses and strongly encourages adherence by users to the DMA's guidelines for ethical direct marketing. These guidelines are included in the product's documentation. While MarketPlace is perceived as breaking new ground in its use of CD-ROM and the personal computer to deliver mailing lists, all of the information in MarketPlace is already available through other published sources. Lotus believes that the product controls in place preserve consumer privacy while providing information and new technology essential to the growth of U.S. businesses. We hope that this clarifies any questions or concerns. Doug Borchard