tnixon@uunet.uu.net (Toby Nixon) (01/24/91)
(From CompuServe Online Today Electronic Edition, January 23, 1990) LOTUS PULLS MARKETPLACE Lotus Development Corp. has decided to cancel work on Lotus MarketPlace: Households, a CD-ROM database product of names, addresses, and marketing information on 120 million US households. The company also said it will discontinue Lotus MarketPlace: Business, a database of information on seven million US businesses that began shipping in October 1990. Lotus MarketPlace: Households was scheduled for shipment in March. Lotus and Equifax, which provided the data in MarketPlace, said the decision to cancel the two products came after an assessment of the public concerns and misunderstanding of the product, and the substantial, unexpected additional costs required to fully address consumer privacy issues. "Unfortunately, Lotus MarketPlace: Households is at the apex of an emotional firestorm of public concern about consumer privacy. While we believe that the actual data content and controls built into the product preserved consumer privacy, we couldn't ignore the high level of consumer concern," said Jim Manzi, Lotus' president and chief executive officer. "After examining all of the issues we have decided that the cost and complexity of educating consumers about the issue is beyond the scope of Lotus as a software provider." Toby Nixon, Principal Engineer | Voice +1-404-449-8791 Telex 151243420 Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. | Fax +1-404-447-0178 CIS 70271,404 P.O. Box 105203 | UUCP uunet!hayes!tnixon AT&T !tnixon Atlanta, Georgia 30348 USA | Internet hayes!tnixon@uunet.uu.net