Learning Oracle PL/SQL

The Evidence

It's not too hard to find cause for concern, and I will share a few stories to make my case. I make no apologies for the fact that my evidence is anecdotal.

Internet portals and the privacy of the database

Well-known Internet portals provide "personalized" web sites for free. But behind the scenes they collect "clickstream" information (where you surf, how long you stay there) that they may be tempted to use in a wide variety of ways. Many companies effectively share information about you with other companies, even if they won't admit it in their published privacy policies, because they use common "banner" advertisers.

Baby blues

A Houston woman (known to my wife) had a baby in a local hospital. Her husband was in a particularly dangerous side of law enforcement requiring the family's address and telephone number to be unlisted. Without the parent's consent, the birthing hospital sold the family's demographic information to companies that sell baby products. All of a sudden, the household information has been sold into every third-party database.

The attack of the credit card

A company uses terabytes of data to market credit cards to consumers. They actually design hundreds—perhaps thousands—of different "products," each with different combinations of "branding," annual fee, APR, balance transfer offers, and so on. The goal is to offer "just the right deal" to get the most from their customers. Of course, the "right" deal means the one that will result in ...