databases. Sharing information can be appropriate in some commercial settings. Many consumers appreciate having products and services tailored to their individual needs or profiles, as long as their privacy isn't unduly compromised. But to protect privacy, access should be denied to people who don't have a legitimate reason for the information they seek. A nosy neighbor shouldn't be able to check your credit rating. Society must define the appropriate purposes for specific kinds of information and fashion ways to confine the use of the information to those purposes. It won't be easy, but it is possible. Individuals and organizations can do their part by making the protection of privacy an important objective. As people wake up to how much information about them is stored on computers and how it can be used, the issue of privacy will command more and more the attention from the powers that be. The privacy concerns of the Lotus and Equifax “MarketPlace: Households” mailing lists consisted of true product dissemination and how it would be controlled, resale of the data and would consumers be able to delete their names from the database or make corrections before hitting the market? There were also concerns that not everyone in the database had agreed to participate. These were certainly legitimate regards of the consumers. It’s clearly a control issue and scary to think that a stranger is controlling how your personal information is used. In lieu of so much criticism Lotus and Equifax canceled the product. ...
