“Consumer espionage” … is threatening our right to privacy merely because of what we buy or don’t buy. “[Data] is used primarily as a marketing tool, although we’ve seen technology has a way of being applicable to many fields at once,” says Erik Larson, who recounts questionable uses of marketing data. “The secrets prospectors are everywhere.” … The Internet has proven to be a mixed blessing … With all the media hype, home computer hobbyists as well as businesses are rushing to access the Internet. But they do so at their own peril.
Predictor: Larson, Erik
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article about privacy for Midwest Today, Neal Lawrence writes about the 1992 book “The Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities,” by business journalist Erik Larson, in which Larson coined the phrase “consumer espionage.” Lawrence writes: ”A former Wall Street Journal reporter, Erik Larson, 40, wrote a book titled ‘The Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities’ (Penguin). In it, he traces the multitude of sources for marketers and others to acquire detailed information about consumers. Larson spent two years researching and writing the book and said his research made him much more careful about divulging personal information. ‘Somewhere along the way, the data keepers made the arbitrary decision that everyone is automatically on their lists unless they ask to be taken off,’ Larson wrote. ‘This is a deft bit of work redistribution. Instead of companies having to work at persuading us to hop into their data banks, we consumers have to work at keeping ourselves out of them.’ Larson [says] ‘consumer espionage’ … is threatening our right to privacy merely because of what we buy or don’t buy. ‘[Data] is used primarily as a marketing tool, although we’ve seen technology has a way of being applicable to many fields at once,’ says Larson, who recounts questionable uses of marketing data. ‘The secrets prospectors are everywhere,’ Larson insisted. ‘You don’t see them because much of their probing is done from a distance through oblique means and because only a relative few of America’s 250 million people are subjected to intense scrutiny at any one time. But we continually betray secrets about ourselves, and these secrets are systematically collected by the marketers’ intelligence network.’ … The Internet has proven to be a mixed blessing … With all the media hype, home computer hobbyists as well as businesses are rushing to access the Internet. But they do so at their own peril.”
Biography:Erik Larson is a former Wall Street Journal reporter who wrote “The Naked Consumer” (Penguin Books, 1992) a book on databases, data collection, marketing and our shrinking privacy. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1992
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Privacy/Surveillance
Name of publication: Midwest Today
Title, headline, chapter name: Shocking New Assaults on Your Privacy
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.midtod.com/highlights/privacy.phtml
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney