Why worry about databases?

Your name is on a database somewhere. In fact, it's on lots of them. Sometimes, this leads to odd results.

Darlene Salerno considers herself a loyal customer of the Express clothing chain, shelling out roughly $2,000 for its trendy outfits each year for the past decade. On a recent shopping trip, she bought a tank top, a button-down shirt and some khaki pants, but realized when she got home that she had similar items in her closet. So a few days later she took them back to the store. She presented the items, the receipt and waited for her money.

Instead, the saleswoman handed her a slip of paper that said "RETURN DECLINED" and told her to call the toll-free number at the bottom for more information. She phoned and was informed her account showed "excessive" returns.

People are collecting information in databases, and using, or selling, it for a number of purposes. In Ms. Salerno's case, a store set up a criterion that bit her in the seat of her khaki pants. Other worries include lists of peoples' employment histories. Did they enter your correct job title? Is it the title you think was correct? Or are you going to look like you're padding your resume?

Ultimately, of course, people will become more sophisticated about databases. Like any other reference, it's only as good as the referrer, and you have to weigh the credibility of whoever put every bit of information in the database.

And the more intrusive a database becomes, the more people will work to find ways around it:

But for all the money and effort retailers have spent on this high-tech system, there appears to be a low-tech loophole, Salerno discovered. After giving up on trying to clear her record with the company, she enlisted the help of a friend, who was able to return the unwanted clothes without hassle.

(For the record, I have a couple of "associate" cards for grocery stores. These cards are linked with the user's home phone number, so you can get the benefits of club membership by punching in your number – or someone else's.)