DISADVANTAGES – CONSUMER/INTERNET

DISADVANTAGES — CONSUMER/INTERNET — HURTS BUSINESS� 416

LINK: CONTROLS ON PROFILING

PROFILING MAKES IT EASIER FOR SMALL AND NEW COMPANIES TO BREAK IN AND INNOVATE

Solveig Singleton, director of information studies at the Cato Institute, October 18, 1999 http://www.cdt.org/privacy/FTC/profiling/singleton.htm// acs-EE2001

Second, the use of profiles in marketing makes it easier for small companies to break into markets dominated by big competitors. Consider the example of a new commercial web site, with no customers yet and no big name. A consumer using a search engine might find the new company…or not. This company is at a disadvantage compared to its established competitors with household names. Online profiling will enable the development of highly targeted email, allowing companies to garner new customers without the problems and stigma of "spam." Consumers will no longer have to rely solely on less-than-perfect search engines to learn about a product that interests them. And new companies with a low profile will have an alternative to these engines as well.

ONLINE PROFILING IS ONE OF THE WORLD'S FASTEST GROWING INDUSTRIES

Robert Wright, President of Zero-Knowledge Systems of Montreal. The Toronto Star December 23, 1999, TITLE: PROTECTING PRIVACY ONLINE // acs-EE2001

And with the Internet's rapid ascent into the mainstream, online profiling - the practice of collecting data about a user's surfing habits - has become one of the fastest-growing industries of this new world.