I dunno. I’ve always been very aware that the commercially-run (as opposed to fan-run) cons were always very much marketing businesses, so for me this particular case feels like, in the words of Super Chicken to his sidekick, “You knew the job was dangerous when you took it!” Certainly industrial/manufacturer conventions, which is what the commercial conventions are to some degree modelled on, track every bit of data they can get their hands on because that data is part of what their exhibitors are paying for.
But, yes, if they’re going to do this it should be made pluperfectly clear to people before they register, so they have the option of rejecting it and going elsewhere.
