E-commerce company plans to give away 1 million computers in exchange

The Associated Press

PASADENA, Calif. -- An electronic commerce company offered Monday to give free computers to as many as 1 million people in exchange for details about their personal lives, including where they go and what they buy on the Internet.

Users must be willing to look at an incessant barrage of advertisements that will appear on-screen whenever the computer is turned on. On Monday, plenty of people seemed willing to make the trade with Free-PC.com. Access to the company's Web site was clogged. Phone lines were busy, and some people even showed up at the company's offices looking for free computers. The concept is similar to one used by companies that give away cellular phones or cable TV boxes to get customers to buy the service. Initially, Free-PC.com will give 10,000 new Compaq Presario computers to applicants willing to provide information such as their age, income and hobbies. If there is enough demand, the number of free computers could rise to 1 million, the company said. Computers won't be given out until sometime after March. The company will monitor the amount of time recipients use the computer. If the user doesn't log on to the Internet often enough, new ads will be automatically transmitted to the computer terminal. "There's a cost barrier for people to buy a computer and to get Internet access, yet with the explosion of e-commerce, the Internet is the accepted medium to deliver advertising and content," said Don LaVigne, chief executive officer of Free-PC.com. Consumer advocates warned applicants to carefully consider whether a new computer is worth their personal information. The application asks consumers how much money they make, what kinds of cars they own, what hobbies and interests they pursue and to which magazines they subscribe. Once a person is accepted into the system, the company also will track which Internet sites they visit and which ads they click onto. "For those people that care about their privacy, or might care about their privacy in the future, I urge them to think long and hard because you have to provide information about your history to this company," said Evan Hendricks, editor of the newsletter Privacy Times. LaVigne said Free-PC.com will use the information only to build a demographic profile to determine which ads should appear on the user's screen. Companies that advertise through Free-PC will never see personal information about participants, he vowed.

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