In response to Elizabeth's Question

"What if you were the customer and you were asked if it was okay if they give your name and number to another company, would you be alright with it?

I would have to say I would not be alright with a company giving out my name and number. I would appreciate them asking me rather than just giving the information out but I wouldn't say it was okay. If it was a company like John Smith's then I would more than likely have trust in his company. By him inquiring with me before giving out my personal information, I would be able to keep my trust in his company. My trust may even grow because he would be showing me that he cares enough about his customers to personally confront them about our own information. It also proves to me that he strongly believes in being ethical.

There are many reasons I would not allow them to give my information out. Although I may trust the company who has initially has my personal information, I do not know or trust the company they are providing it to. I have not been a customer of the company and in turn have not had any time to develop a relationship with them. With this being said, they have no obligation to me or my trust in them. I suppose that if they want to recruit me as a customer, they may keep my information private, but I can't be certain of that. If I were to allow my personal information to be given to another company I would want an agreement stating that the new company will not disclose my information to other companies without my consent. Unless standards are written or provided I would not be in accordance to allowing a company with my personal information, to give it out.

What is a situation where someone allowed for their personal information to be passed on to one company, and that the new company ended up passing it on to more and more organizations because they didn't have any personal connection to the initial customer?