
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 4, 1995                   TAG: 9507050036
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

BELL ATLANTIC SELLS CUSTOMER DATA

Bell Atlantic-Virginia is trying a new way to make money - selling the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all its residential customers to outside marketers.

The state's largest telephone company has been selling information on new residential customers for more than a year, but now it wants to cash in on its existing customers as well. Bell Atlantic gets $90 and up for every 1,000 names of new connects, the company said. It expects to get $50 to $55 for every 1,000 names of existing residential customers.

Customers can ask that their information not be sold. Bell Atlantic does not sell information from nonpublished numbers.

Consumer groups say that selling personal information about customers strips away yet another layer of their privacy.

- Associated Press

by CNB