Lotus Marketplace was adatabaseprogram developed jointly byLotus Development Corporation (as thesoftware developer) andEquifax (as the information provider), announced on April 10, 1990, but cancelled shortly after on January 23, 1991, mainly due to massive protests andlawsuit threats, citinginvasion of privacy. This program was rather large (even by today's^[when?] standards), as it was supposed to be released on severalCD-ROMs.

Lotus Marketplace was to be released in two editions,Lotus Marketplace: Business (containing information about businesses) andLotus Marketplace: Households (containing information about peoples and households).

TheBusiness edition of this program contained information about 7 millionbusinesses in theUnited States, just likeYellow Pages, but could quickly and flexibly be searched. Unlike theHouseholds edition, this edition was not so controversial and was released in October 1990, but was cancelled along with theHouseholds edition; concerns about profitability were cited.

TheHouseholds edition of this program became infamous and the object of considerable opprobrium because it was supposed to containprivate information about 120 million people and 80 millionhouseholds in the United States. Information such as names, addresses,telephone numbers,demographic 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 citedcustomer privacy issues (because by using this programtelemarketers could get hundreds of names and addresses, andmass mail those addresses without addressees' consent). The backlash online was particularly intense, with a newUsenet newsgroup 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 foronline activism.^[1]

• Privacy
• Customer privacy
• Data privacy
• Computer ethics
• Telemarketing

• "A Victory for Computer Populism", Langdon Winner.Technology Review, May–June 1991, page 66.
• Persuasion and Privacy in Cyberspace: The Online Protests over Lotus MarketPlace and the Clipper Chip, by Laura J. Gurak New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.

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

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