When Data Becomes a Liability

One of my first jobs in programming, and my first job in private industry after a few years working in academia, was at a newspaper that wanted a login for their website available to any delivery subscribers. Behind the paywall were bonus features for them.

All they really needed to register their subscribers for the login was the subscriber code from the bill. But marketing (it was marketing that started the website, not editorial) came up with a 3-page questionnaire about background, interests, and preferences that would-be users were supposed to go through to register. Granted many of the questions were optional, no answer was required, but unsurprisingly they didn't get a lot of signups. And it wasn't like the users were going to get charged more, login access was free to anyone with a subscription.