Sales information provider PC Data, Reston, VA, introduced a market research service earlier this month that will monitor an individual's use of the software loaded onto his PC and the sites he frequents.
PC Data hopes to solicit more than 100,000 PC users who will download a 1 megabyte piece of software that allows the @PCData software to track and compile their activity. It can record the name, version and use time of any application running on that PC, the URL of any Web page visited and error messages. The software will be available to online merchants and direct marketers in the next few months.
It cannot record information on word-processing documents, e-mail messages or other private data. Recorded material is sent to PC Data through the user's Internet connection as an e-mail message.
