From the Publisher

By Elizabeth P. Valk

For parts of this week's cover story on privacy, associate editor Richard Lacayo had to look at companies that collect and sell information on the bill- paying history of almost every adult American. Last year Richard sent off for a copy of his own credit report. What would that personal experience tell us about the story he was investigating, we wondered.

Lacayo wanted to see a copy of his credit report because he had applied for a mortgage and knew that his bank would be seeking the same information. He sent his request to TRW, one of the companies that compile credit histories, along with a $16 fee. While waiting for the copy, Richard, who strikes most of us as about as likely to get into credit trouble as he is to sprout wings and soar from his 23rd-floor-office window, combed through his memory for any instances of financial delinquency. "I once borrowed $25 from a friend in high school," he recalls. "But I was pretty sure I had paid it back before too long."

Most of you are probably familiar with accounts of credit histories that come riddled with errors. When Richard's arrived, his problem was probably closer to the experience of most Americans: Richard had trouble understanding it. "Some of the information was coded, with no explanatory glossary," he complains. He found one error, though not necessarily a harmful one. "A car loan that I had paid off was reported to have been for only about a 10th of the amount that I actually borrowed." No grist for our story there.

Lacayo did find that preparing the privacy story made him more sensitive to the proliferation of efforts to penetrate personal privacy. Having learned that data companies collect the addresses and phone numbers of people who make credit-card purchases, he began to notice how often he is asked for that information by shop clerks. And he says he's more aware now of video surveillance cameras in stores and workplaces. "It's hard not to feel a bit more vulnerable to intrusions I was just dimly aware of in the past," says the determinedly unparanoid writer. "But I've resisted the temptation to withdraw behind closed doors." It helps, of course, that there was no problem with his mortgage.