Privacy Expert Warns Businesses: ''Failure to Confront Reality'' of Consumer Fears is Risky

The quest to capture, store and analyze massive amounts
of consumer information offers tremendous opportunities to serve
consumers and grow profits, but cavalier or inappropriate uses of the
data could jeopardize the very future of a business, a leading expert
on privacy and information practices said today.
   "We live in a time of growing concern about how information about
consumers is collected, used and protected," Acxiom(R) Corporation
Chief Privacy Officer Jennifer Barrett said. "Failure to confront that
reality will put your brand and profits at risk."
   Barrett made her remarks today as a featured speaker at the
Reinventing CPG and Retail Summit 2006, taking place this week in San
Francisco, and hosted by Information Resources, Inc., the leading
global provider of enterprise market information solutions for the
consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, and healthcare industries. The
three-day forum drew some of the world's senior leaders in consumer
packaged goods and retail to discuss trends, strategies and best
practices in their industries.
   The privacy expert said failure to follow good data management
practices has not only hurt the reputation of many businesses, it has
sparked consumers' fears and prompted calls for more regulation.
   Barrett cautioned executives against being one of the "few very
aggressive companies" that have given consumers reason to fear how
their information is being used - citing the recent sale of General
Wesley Clark's cell phone records over the Internet as one example.
   One of the first executives in the nation with the role of "chief
privacy officer," Barrett said companies that seek to be good stewards
of data, while also benefiting from its potential to achieve greater
business results, should follow a number of practices, including:

   --  Fully understand the data that is collected and maintained and
        how that data elements are used "from the consumer's
        perspective."
   --  Protect any sensitive data - and make that that the jobs of
        all employees, not just the security officer.
   --  Be candid with consumers, and live up to the promises you
        make.
   --  Screen your partners - particularly data and service providers
        - and other vendors more carefully than ever.
   --  Act aggressively to remedy and speak with candor if you have a
        potentially damaging event regarding data privacy or security.

   About Acxiom Corporation

   Acxiom Corporation (NASDAQ: ACXM) integrates data, services and
technology to create and deliver customer and information management
solutions for many of the largest, most respected companies in the
world. The core components of Acxiom's innovative solutions are
Customer Data Integration (CDI) technology, data, database services,
IT outsourcing, consulting and analytics, and privacy leadership.
Founded in 1969, Acxiom is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas,
with locations throughout the United States and Europe, and in
Australia and China. For more information, visit www.acxiom.com.

   Acxiom is registered trademark of Acxiom Corporation.