P-Trak database from Lexis-Nexis, which included individual's Social Security numbers and maiden names. America On-Line is near the centre of this war: it began banning messages from E-mail marketeers identified as spamming AOL members. One banned company, Cyberpromotions, initiated legal action to remove the barriers. AOL introduced its Marketing Preferences service, which allows members to block E-mail from alleged spam sites.A recent incarnation of P-T&k, which included names, addresses and telephone numbers of consumers, along with more sensitive information that could be used to perpetrate credit fraud. Many consumers naively expose personal information, and some companies are taking advantage of simple ignorance. The most common example of this is when a consumer is asked to fill out a form in exchange for membership at a particular site. While most users do not send a credit card number blindly, many will give away other personal information.
Many companies doing business online have begun disclosing what information they collect from consumers
promising not to share that data with third parties. ~a~orld, January 1997, p. 44.