Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 5.5
Some police departments are monitoring Facebook and Twitter to identify lo-
cations of big parties and deploy officers accordingly.
(© Allen Sullivan/ZUMA Press/Newscom)
Advances in information technology have led to a drop in the cost of acquiring infor-
mation. Meanwhile, the value of information continues to rise, as organizations refine
their data-mining techniques. The result of these trends is that corporations have an in-
centive to acquire more information, making it more difficult for individuals to protect
their privacy [20]. Still, people can and do fight back when they feel a corporation has
gone too far.
Lotus Development Corporation teamed up with credit reporting company Equifix to
develop a database on 120 million people and a program that would allow the user
to produce direct mailing lists based on various criteria, such as household income.
Lotus hoped to sell the package, which it called “Marketplace: Households,” to small
businesses. Soon after the product was announced in the spring of 1990, there was a
considerable backlash. Consumers complained loudly and vigorously, with more than
30,000 letters, phone calls, and emails. Lotus dropped plans to sell the CD [57].
How times have changed! A little more than two decades later, credit reporting
company Experian has a thriving business selling direct mailing lists based on much
