Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!telecom-request Date: Mon, 06 May 1991 04:09:51 GMT From: Mike Andrews Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Prodigy or Fraudigy ??? Message-ID: Organization: Chinet - Chicago Public Access UNIX Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 344, Message 6 of 10 Lines: 16 The excrement has hit the fan. This Prodigy legend was reported on CNN today. A representitive of Prodigy denied emphatically that they were collecting *any* information on their subscribers. The CNN reporter ended the report with Prodigy's statement that they were fixing this problem in their software, adding sarcastically, "a problem that they deny they have..." As was mentioned on PBS's "Nova" a few weeks ago, Prodigy DOES collect information on its members. It tracks the demographics of the user and where they go in the service to find the customer's interests so that the ads that appear are tailored to those interests. There was no mention of whether Prodigy sells that information to others.