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SELLING YOUR PRIVACY?
The survey, conducted by Privacy & American Business and Opinion Research Corp., found that 86 percent of the Internet users it polled support such free offers. Fifty-three percent say they would participate in an information-for-benefits program, provided the company explained how the information would be used.
Companies such as Free-PC Inc. swap products and services for personal information and targeted advertising. Free-PC, an idealab! Company based in Pasadena, California, gives Compaq Computer Corp. PCs, Internet access and e-mail to customers who fill out detailed questionnaires that are used to determine which advertisements appear on their computer screens. Many companies, such as Free-PC, use the information to sell advertising. Some sell the information itself, which privacy advocates find alarming. ``Some privacy advocates consider it a `dangerous threat to Net privacy' for Web sites to offer consumers free products . . . in exchange for personal information,'' Dr. Alan Westin, head of Privacy & American Business, said in a statement. Westin's survey results suggest that such concerns may be overblown. No Surprise? The survey's findings ``aren't surprising,'' said Steve Chadima, vice president of marketing at Free-PC. The closely held company has received more than 1.25 million applications for its free machines. ``People know what they're getting in to,'' Chadima said. The company began shipping its first 10,000 free PCs at the end of June. Still, 82 percent of the Internet users polled say privacy policies matter when deciding whether to trade information for freebies, the survey found. Only 14 percent said privacy policies wouldn't figure into their decision, as long as they got the benefit. Some companies, including International Business Machines Corp., have made privacy matters an issue when advertising online. The world's largest computer company said in March it will withdraw ads from Internet sites without policies that safeguard privacy in response to consumer concerns about disclosing personal information. ``Our privacy policy is very, very strict,'' said Free PC's Chadima. ``We never give out personal information for any reason.'' Privacy & American Business, a non-profit think tank based in Hackensack, New Jersey, surveyed 457 Internet users drawn from a representative sample of 1,014 adults.
Selling your privacy for something? Thats not good not at all...Selling your privacy is like letting the FBI boys into your house and watching you every second...Please people before you go on and sell your person info to someone THINK about what you are doin and what might happen to you...
Thanks you gor the story http://www.bloomberg.com
We FL3M support Privacy on the net, you should too...
KeebLer Elves / N.Y.S / HiP / bl0w team / Attrition / Th3 / Lyrikal Crew