Is USENIX selling attendee lists?

[Dave Yost]

In article <5536 at swan.ulowell.edu> page at swan.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) writes:
>Did USENIX sell the attendee list?

No.  But I'm glad you asked.

>Nowhere on the conference registration was there a box that said
>"check here if you don't want us to sell your name to vendors."  If
>that's what's implied by the box for attendee list, it should clearly
>say so.  I'd like others in the UNIX community to know how to get in
>touch with me, but as for vendors ...

Come to think about it, it doesn't say that, but you've
just been reminded by the world that if you don't want
your name to fall into the hands of sales people, you
have to take every opportunity to keep your name off
lists.  Or maybe, like some of us, you might come to
tolerate random sales literature because occasional
items will be of interest to us, or we just like to
keep informed on what is available out there.

You can be sure that sales people use the USENIX
conference attendee lists; they'd be fools not to.

In the past, USENIX has not sold its membership list or
given it out, but we have done mailings to the list for
companies willing to pay for it.  I'll check to make
sure that we have a bit in each member database record
that says whether you want your name used in this way.

Incidentally, I am pushing for USENIX to publish its
membership list annually, with portraits a la the
Phoenix 1987 attendee list.  We will be taking a
poll at some point to see if this is desired by the
membership.  Of course, if we do it, members would only
be listed in such a directory if they explicitly wanted
to be listed.

Dave Yost
USENIX Board Member