DATA ON CHILDREN EASY, CHEAP TO GET

By Jim Herron Zamora

In our last issue of the Klaas Action Review, we ran an article on Metromail Corp., a marketing firm which sells information about children, including names, addresses, ages, and other sensitive data to buyers who are -- or who say they are -- seeking to sell consumer products for children. The story has been followed up by several reporters, and more recent findings are outlined in this article, which ran in the San Francisco Examiner in late spring.

To prove how easy it is for pedophiles to obtain mailing lists of kids, a Los Angeles television station reported that it obtained a detailed computer printout of the ages and addresses of 5,500 children living in Pasadena simply by sending $277 to a Chicago database firm.

The television reporter gave her name as Richard Alien Davis -- the admitted killer of 12-year-old Polly Klaas -- when ordering the list. The reporter, Kyra Phillips of KCBS TV in Los Angeles, also gave the name of a non-existent children's clothing company and a non-working phone number to the company, Metromail Corp., in order to obtain the list.

"When I said, 'Richard Davis' they said, 'Oh, you have a famous name,'" Phillips said in an interview. "They asked for no proof of business or identification. I could have been a legitimate business person or I could have been a sex criminal."

Klaas' father, Marc Klaas, has been crusading against inclusion of children's names in market databases sold to direct-mail firms, saying the lists make it easier for pedophiles to target children. Officials from Metromail, a unit of R. R. Donnelley & Sons, Inc., could not be reached for comment. But Donnelley Vice President Steve Bono, quoted earlier in USA Today, said, "There is no evidence to suggest criminals are using direct-mailing lists to harm children or that the safeguards the industry has in place voluntarily are not adequate."

"Metromail has good and adequate policies in place to prevent the inappropriate dissemination of data through our marketing services," Susan Henricks, Metromail's president and CEO, wrote in a letter faxed to KCBS-TV last week. "Unfortunately, in this instance, the proper procedures were not followed and our system did not work. We're investigating why these procedures were not followed and will discipline those responsible. More importantly, we are taking steps to be sure that our pocedures will be followed in the future."

No Questions Asked

Phillips said she called Metromail the following Monday, told the firm she was from a company that wanted to sell children's clothes in Pasadena, and asked to buy a list of names of children between the ages of 1 and 12 and their family names and addresses. She said Metromail asked for her name and her company's name address and pbone number as well as the method of payment for the $277 fee.

"I said I couldn't pay by check or credit card because my purse was stolen," Phillips said. "They sent it one day later COD, and I paid by money order." Phillips received a of addresses that included the parents' names, the family's address and the child's date of birth and gender.

"It's outrageous," Marc Klaas said of Phillips' report. "They have always said that they screen their clients very carefully. But this is proof that they do not... child molesters, rapists, and murderers can access this very sensitive information."

Marc Klaas' Crusade

Klaas has formed a new coalition called Kids Off Lists, devoted to getting children's names and personal information off marketing databases. He said parents should at least be allowed to give permission every time information about their children is sold to a direct-mail marketing firm.

"How would you like it if someone came to your door and said they had ordered private information on your child using the name of an admitted child-killer?" asked Klaas, who was also interviewed in the televised report.

Pedophiles, he said, "have used computers to try to meet kids online, and I'm sure they'll figure out ways to utilize this too." Klaas' daughter was abducted from her Petaluma home and killed in October 1993. The suspect in the case, Richard Alien Davis, did not locate her through databases. Davis has pleaded not guilty. His attorney has said the ex- convict killed Polly but didn't sexually assault her.

Klaas is a shareholder in R. R. Donnelley and in March at the firm's annual meeting in Chicago, he asked them to "purge the names of children from their computers."

Although other firms market family information, Klaas said he targeted Donnelley because it's the biggest firm in the business. "You've got to go after the biggest offender if you want to change anything," Klaas said. "They're the ones making the most money off our children."

© San Francisco Examiner, 1996. Reprinted by permission. Jim Herron Zamora is a member of the Examiner staff.