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In response to recent messages that have appeared here about Lotus 
MarketPlace, we want to provide some hard facts that we hope will 
clear up some of the misinformation surrounding our product.

Lotus MarketPlace:  Households is a CD-ROM database of names and
addresses on U.S.  consumers, which businesses use for direct marketing.
It is a small -- but highly visible -- part of a multibillion direct
marketing industry that helps businesses deliver products and services
to interested consumers through compiled lists and databases.

Some people argue that the information collected in Lotus MarketPlace:
Households should not be available.  However, this information is
already readily available, either as a matter of public record or
through thousands of other commercial lists and database sources.  For
example, the 1990 Boston Yellow Pages alone lists more than 50 mailing
list brokers.

Access to information is one of the benefits of a free society.  In
developing MarketPlace, Lotus and its data provider, Equifax Marketing
Decision Systems, have strived to balance the right to privacy with the
freedom of information that is a hallmark of our society.

In developing MarketPlace, Lotus and Equifax Marketing Decision Systems
have implemented a number of controls that go far beyond traditional
industry practices for consumer privacy protection.  Besides limiting
the data to what is readily available as a matter of public record,
Census data profiling, and similar sources most people can already
access, we have taken three additional and important steps:  1) we are
offering the product only to legitimate businesses; 2) we are providing
consumers with an option to have their names removed from the database;
and 3) we are educating and advising users of the proper legal and
ethical responsibilities for list usage.

What's in Lotus MarketPlace: Households

     Name
     Address
     Age range
     Gender
     Marital status
     Dwelling type
     Estimated neighborhood income (based on neighborhood average at the
	     9-digit zip code level)
     Neighborhood lifestyle

What's not in Lotus MarketPlace: Households

     Telephone numbers
     Individual credit data (number of credit cards, spending levels, 
	     balances, etc.)
     An individual's purchase history
     An individual's actual income
     An individual's actual age

Lotus MarketPlace: Households does not include individual credit data and thus
cannot be used to determine the credit worthiness of an individual.

Privacy Safeguards:  Product Features

     No telephone numbers
     Inability to directly look up a single name
     Ability to print/export names and addresses only (versus full records)
     Elderly people aggregated into a category "65 and older"
     Database includes decoy names that will receive sample mailings
     Direct Marketing Association guidelines inserted into retail package

Privacy Safeguards:  Purchase Process

     Only sample data included in retail package
     Signed data order form completed by purchaser
     Software license agreement outlines prohibited uses of the product
     Product sold only to registered businesses
     Approval and verification process of purchaser conducted prior to 
	delivery of actual data discs

Consumer Name Removal Options:

Consumers can "opt out" of the Lotus MarketPlace: Households database by doing
one of two things:

      Write the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service to
      remove their names from MarketPlace and from all other lists that
      participate in this nationwide service at:

                Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service
                P.O. Box 3861
                New York, NY  10163-3861

      
      Write Lotus with a request to remove their names from Lotus MarketPlace:
      Households at:

                Lotus Development Corporation
                MarketPlace Name Removal Service
                55 Cambridge Parkway
                Cambridge, MA 02142

To expedite accurate name removal from MarketPlace, individuals should 
include the following information in their
correspondence:  name, address, social security number, and signature.

Because MarketPlace is a subscription-based product that will be updated
quarterly, the name-removal process will be ongoing and open to
consumers at their discretion.  Because of the normal turnover in the
data, it is expected that a majority of MarketPlace users will elect the
subscription option, thereby minimizing the amount of "old" MarketPlace
information in use.

Chances are that if a consumer is included in the MarketPlace database,
he/she is included in many other databases and lists.  Consumers
concerned with being on any lists should therefore direct their name
removal requests to the DMA.

Direct Marketing Association's Ethical Guidelines:

Lotus endorses and strongly encourages adherence by users to the DMA's
guidelines for ethical direct marketing.   These guidelines are included 
in the product's documentation.

While MarketPlace is perceived as breaking new ground in its use of
CD-ROM and the personal computer to deliver mailing lists, all of the
information in MarketPlace is already available through other published
sources.  Lotus believes that the product controls in place preserve
consumer privacy while providing information and new technology
essential to the growth of U.S.  businesses.

We hope that this clarifies any questions or concerns.

Doug Borchard