In a message dated 97-01-21 04:28:34 EST, you write: << but I've always been curious how they got my name since I always thought that home office was confidential? Any clarifications? Does home office sell mailing lists to piano related businesses? >> Ron, Confidential, not exactly. No the Home Office does not--did not as of July 96; for info since I went off the Board you will have to verify with either the Home Office or a member of the Board--sell our mailing list to anyone. However, a *PTG member* can and often does buy labels from the Home Office, e.g. for seminars. This is the paradox I discussed with Larry. A member has the right to buy the mailing list from HO; what the member does with it afterwards is his/her business. It is possible that a member has obtained labels and given them to non members or used them for other purposes. Also, with today's technology it is very easy to scan our Directory and have one's own access to our entire membership list. The Home Office has no control over what an individual member does either with his/her PTG Directory or with the mailing labels after they receive them. Larry was adament that Home Office not release our membership on disc to members. The only way anyone got the list other that their own personal Directory was on mailing labels. That was the only safeguard Larry could come up with to protect us as individual members to prevent someone from doing exactly what you suspected--selling our membership list--yet not infringing on a member's right to get labels from the Home Office. Larry's rationale was that if a member did plan to use the mailing labels to create a list, they would have to go at least one step further and scan it into a computer. Hope this clears it up somewhat. I realize it does not completely answer your questions, but to my knowledge there is no way to know what happens after the mailing labels--not an individual list--leaves the Home Office. Gina
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