Lotus Marketplace was a database program developed jointly by Lotus Development Corporation (as the software developer) and Equifax (as the information provider), announced on April 10, 1990, but cancelled shortly after on January 23, 1991, mainly due to massive protests and lawsuit threats, citing invasion of privacy.
The Households edition of this program became infamous and the object of considerable opprobrium because it was supposed to contain private information about 120 million people and 80 million households in the United States.
Information such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, demographic information, and prior purchasing behavior were contained in the program and could be searched quickly and flexibly.
This program was strongly protested by many, who cited customer privacy issues (because by using this program telemarketers could get hundreds of names and addresses, and mass mail those addresses without addressees' consent).
The backlash online was particularly intense, with a new Usenet newsgroup formed to discuss it.