RE: Requesting User Information and Policy Agreement Prior to Data Exports

["P V Picerno" <pvp@libr.stedwards.edu>]

I think your company will have lots of problems getting institutions to
agree to an information source which requires patron registration. The
most important issue is that libraries traditionally protect the
identities of their patrons which your site would not. Further, libraries
do not provide contact information for their patrons. While these may not
be in violation, legally, of any privacy legislation, I would
categorically reject any product which required the information your
company is demanding. This is just my opinion and I'll be very interested
in others reactions. I as a user would also not use such a product in
order to protect my own identity as well as my being targeted for
marketing or other purposes.

Dr. Peter V. Picerno

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 4:38 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Requesting User Information and Policy Agreement Prior to Data
Exports

Question regarding the request of user information and policy agreement
prior to data exports:

I work for a company that markets primarily to academic institutions. We
are developing a new online product and anticipate requiring users to
"accept" or "agree" to a clear statement whenever downloading or exporting
data from the database.  The institution will have agreed to some Terms of
Service when purchasing, of course, but we still want to communicate with
individual users that there are limits on what we want them to do with the
data.

The question is: Does requiring users to enter names or affiliations in
order to download data present any kind of issues with privacy/freedom in
the academic or library environment?

[SNIP]

Kind regards, Patrick MacDougall