Should there be an online version of the National Do Not Call Registry? At first blush, this might seem like a dire proposition for marketers. But, in fact, it would be a good thing.
As marketers, we all are intimately familiar with the National Do Not Call Registry regulated by the Federal Trade Commission. Consumers who do not wish to receive unsolicited telemarketing calls can simply sign up online with the registry. Telemarketers then have 31 days to stop calling the specified number or numbers. Failure to do so and/or selling consumer information to other telemarketing companies can result in severe fines.
In recent years, consumer advocacy groups have worked to create a similar model for online marketers. While these attempts have had mixed results, it appears that advocates' diligence has taken hold with at least a few lawmakers.
As marketers, it seems we would want to use every option at our disposal to reach prospects and discourage any form of regulation. But the fact is that we run the risk of alienating our customers if some boundaries are not put in place.
We need to learn from the do-not-call database for telemarketers. Namely, we can't afford to violate the relationship we have with existing customers by overcommunicating with them and "selling" them to or "buying" them from other companies. And we really can't afford to alienate prospects up front with oversolicitation.
A legislative measure introduced in New York would make it a crime for Web companies to use personal information to market to consumers without their explicit permission. Democratic New York State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky has sponsored a bill that would significantly limit the activities of ad networks -- companies that serve ads on sites they do not own -- with strict data-collection rules. The thrust of the bill focuses on limiting the ability of these types of companies from selling consumers' private data (to other companies that can then solicit them) without their permission. While lawmakers in New York adjourned in June without voting on the bill, the issue is not likely to disappear any time soon. The legislature doesn't start its next term until January, but leaders can still call the group back into session later this year. In addition, Brodsky reportedly said he intends to continue pushing for the bill at any future sessions this year, and that if the law doesn't pass this year, he intends to reintroduce it next January. Similar measures were proposed this year in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Connecticut bill was not passed, but the one in Massachusetts remains under consideration.
The legislation, in general, would have major ramifications for the likes of Google, Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft, since if the bills actually pass and become law, it would be very difficult for companies that collect online data to modify their systems and processes. As with the National Do Not Call Registry, online surfers could request that companies such as Google or Yahoo remove them from any related solicitations and not share their personal information such as names, phone numbers, addresses or incomes with any other company. This sounds easy in theory, but in reality it's much more difficult. Companies most likely would need to revamp their processes across the board in all 50 states and beyond.
There will also be serious ramifications for the industry if these bills become law. In particular, there will be a major ripple in the online marketing and advertising world. Major corporations have shifted their marketing programs to have a much more pronounced online focus and have made significant investments in Web advertising. What's more, much of the demographic data collected by Web companies such as Google and Yahoo help advertisers make their multibillion dollar decisions.
Do Not Market - Steven Woods
In print form, “ad networking” is very familiar, and the flood of mail it can let loose very annoying, to many consumers. That is why marketers now often append a notice to the effect of “We do not rent or sell your information.” Failing to put that notice on your message is a good way of hurrying it to the prospect’s wastebasket. If consumers do not want to be marketed to by ad networks, it is to the interest of an individual marketer to stay out of those networks and to impress on the prospect that dealing with that marketer will not entangle him in ad networks.
Yet once again, proposed law (Brodsky bill, which Mr. Woods seems to approve at least in intent) is based on the idea that left to its own devices, business gets up to no good. Mr. Woods’ endorsement of a Do Not Market law says in effect that we should endorse that idea. So that consumers will like us, we should endorse law that is passed because consumers don’t like us and which carries the message that here is proof of why we should be disliked.
Fred Groh
International Bowling Industry magazine
National Do Not Market Registry
The ramifications of a National "Do Not Market" Registry would be widespread and huge, however, I would most certainly support something like this. Cyber stalking is NOT cool! ~Nicole of www.JustAskNicole.com