DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2002�
Kerry Campaign Collected Info On Volunteers
Thu Mar 04 2004 10:53:35 ET
Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign used a controversial marketing practice offered by one of the country's three credit bureaus to collect additional information last year about people who, according to the campaign, indicated that they would like to help the candidate in the primaries and caucuses.
ROLL CALL reports on Thursday: The contracts with Equifax Marketing Services worth about $36,000 called for the company to find so-called 'appendages' in its massive consumer database. Appending is a practice that involves plugging bits of information into databases in order to collect e-mail addresses or flesh out consumer profiles. The practice has been widely attacked by consumer advocates, who consider it invasive.
Marketing experts believe Kerry's campaign is the first political committee to make use of the append, a relatively recent innovation that has emerged as retail commerce has increasingly moved online.
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