Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!unisoft!mtxinu!ed
From: ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould)
Newsgroups: comp.org.usenix
Subject: Re: Is USENIX selling attendee lists?
Message-ID: <566@mtxinu.UUCP>
Date: 18 Mar 88 22:28:33 GMT
References: <5536@swan.ulowell.edu>
Reply-To: ed@mtxinu.UUCP (Ed Gould)
Distribution: na
Organization: mt Xinu, Berkeley
Lines: 36

>I recently got some marketing poop from "Information Builders Inc"
>about a product called FOCUS.

>The cover letter, bearing the suspicious mark "(100271 UN)" in the
>lower right, starts: ...

>Oh yeah?  I don't remember seeing any vendors at USENIX, or talking to
>anybody from Information Builders Inc, or even getting a demonstration
>of something called FOCUS, which looks like something I would not have
>any interest in. ...

>So how did they get my name?  Did USENIX sell the attendee list?

The Usenix Association does not sell its attendee lists or membership
lists.  The only way in which this information is available to vendors
is that Usenix will, for a price, do a mailing.  They are very rarely
asked to do so.

On the other hand, there are at least two ways in which vendors can get
access to the attendee lists from conferences.  One is by registering
and attending.  Registrants normally receive a list of pre-registered
attendees.  A complete attendee list is usually available at a later
time.  A vendor can use this information should they so choose,
although it might be too expensive to key in for an automated mailing.

Usenix also procures for attendees (when their conference coincides
with UniForum) a registration to the UniForum show.  This involves
sending the names of all the pre-registered attendees to /usr/group.
/usr/group *does* make its attendee lists available for sale.  I expect
that this is how the vendors get their information.

-- 
Ed Gould                    mt Xinu, 2560 Ninth St., Berkeley, CA  94710  USA
{ucbvax,uunet}!mtxinu!ed    +1 415 644 0146

"`She's smart, for a woman, wonder how she got that way'..."