__NOTOC__ Lotus Marketplace was a

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...

program Program, programme, programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program management, the process of managing several related projects * Time management * Program, a part of planning Arts and entertainment Audio * Progra ...

developed jointly by

Lotus Development Corporation Lotus Software (called Lotus Development Corporation before its acquisition by IBM) was an American software company based in Massachusetts; it was "offloaded" to India's HCL Technologies in 2018. Lotus is most commonly known for the Lotus 1-2- ...

(as the

software developer Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, Computer programming, programming, software documentation, documenting, software testing, testing, and Software bugs, bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applic ...

) and

Equifax Equifax Inc. is an American multinational consumer credit reporting agency headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and is one of the three largest consumer credit reporting agencies, along with Experian and TransUnion (together known as the "Big Thr ...

(as the information provider), announced on April 10, 1990, but cancelled shortly after on January 23, 1991, mainly due to massive protests and

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

threats, citing

invasion of privacy The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 150 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. On 10 December 194 ...

. This program was rather large (even by today's standards), as it was supposed to be released on several

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

s. ''Lotus Marketplace'' was to be released in two editions, ''Lotus Marketplace: Business'' (containing information about businesses) and ''Lotus Marketplace: Households'' (containing information about peoples and households). The ''Business'' edition of this program contained information about 7 million

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

es in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, just like

Yellow Pages The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for ...

, but could quickly and flexibly be searched. Unlike the ''Households'' edition, this edition was not so controversial and was released in October 1990, but was cancelled along with the ''Households'' edition; concerns about profitability were cited. The ''Households'' edition of this program became infamous and the object of considerable opprobrium because it was supposed to contain

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

information about 120 million people and 80 million

household A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

s in the United States. Information such as names, addresses,

telephone number A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices f ...

demographic Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...

information, and prior purchasing behavior were contained in the program and could be searched quickly and flexibly. This program was strongly protested by many, who cited

customer privacy Consumer privacy is information privacy as it relates to the consumers of products and services. A variety of social, legal and political issues arise from the interaction of the public's potential expectation of privacy and the collection and di ...

issues (because by using this program telemarketers could get hundreds of names and addresses, and mass mail those addresses without addressees' consent). The backlash online was particularly intense, with a new

Usenet newsgroup A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically distinct ...

formed to discuss it. Information was circulated online about how to contact Lotus and request the removal of one's information from the database; more than 30,000 people would eventually do so. The decision to not release it was seen as a victory for

online activism Internet activism is the use of electronic communication technologies such as social media, e-mail, and podcasts for various forms of activism to enable faster and more effective communication by citizen movements, the delivery of particular infor ...

."In the end, many acknowledged the role of online action in stopping the release of MarketPlace. Some subsequently called it a "victory for computer populism" (Winner 1991)." from "The promise and the peril of social action in cyberspace: ethos, delivery, and the protests over MarketPlace and the Clipper chip", Laura J. Gurak; as published in ''Communities in Cyberspace'', edited by Marc A. Smith and Peter Kollock;

References

External links

The Lessons of the Lotus MarketPlace: Implications for Consumer Privacy in the 1990s
by Mary J. Culnan (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility)

by Lance Hoffman (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility) Privacy controversies and disputes Business software {{business-software-stub

See also

Further reading

References

External links