P.M. BRIEFING : Consumer Database Plan Halted
From Times Wire Services
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. —
Responding to a deluge of complaints, Lotus Development Corp. and Equifax Inc. today halted work on a computer database program that included marketing information on millions of consumers.
In a joint press release, the computer software maker and the credit agency announced cancellation of their MarketPlace: Household database, which included names, addresses and financial information on 120 million U.S. consumers.
Lotus had received nearly 30,000 requests from people that their names, addresses, estimated income levels and other personal data be purged from the database, media accounts said. The company set up a toll-free telephone number just to handle the huge volume of complaints, which included some from Lotus employees.
