TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1999

Computer giveaway facade

In a recent marketing giveaway, a firm in Pasadena announced their greedy, albeit clever, method to extract personal information such as income, age and interests out of willing individuals. The company is giving away 10,000 free PCs on a first-come, first-served basis to those who log on and register at its web site, where individuals are asked personal information in exchange.

But the revealing is not over once you get the nifty new tool into the privacy of your home. Every time recipients log on to the Internet, the firm will closely monitor how it is used and where on the Internet they go. For years to come these recipients can plan on an ever-expanding personal file filled with favorite web sites, medications researched and chat rooms visited.

The firm promises it will not let this information leak. Because no such law prohibits the spread of this information, one can assume individuals will be getting more solicitation and annoying phone calls well into the next millennium.

And in the event of, say, a lawsuit or child-custody case, this information would triple, perhaps quadruple in value. Maybe it could be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Why not bypass computers altogether and sell our phone numbers, allowing advertising companies to listen in? This way, marketing strategies could be personally built around specific personalities.

The problem with the free computer scam is that it appears to be an act of kindness. In Monday's Los Angeles Times the firm was quoted as saying, "We would like to target households that would like to have a computer but can't afford to buy one."

It seems this group should be of little interest to marketing firms due to a limited means. On the contrary, it seems the firm wants to get the spending wheels of the less fortunate spinning too.

A word of caution - beware. Consumer industries are hungry for personal information and once they are armed who knows what to expect. It all comes down to money and the advertising industry's desire to provoke and stimulate consumer madness.

On the surface it is appears to be a beneficial deal for the receiver, but in the long run it is the advertising industry that will benefit more. Why else would they do it?