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Google execs to be subpoenaed: WSJ

June 23, 2011

The Federal Trade Commission is set to subpoena Google to ensure either Eric Schmidt or Larry Page, the company's two top executives, appears before a commission investigating whether the company has abused its position in the search marketing space, according to The Wall Street Journal.
 

PayPal sues Google, former execs over Wallet

May 27, 2011

PayPal filed a civil suit against Google and two Google executives on May 26 over the latter company's newly revealed mobile payment product. The suit alleges that Google, and two former PayPal executives now working at the Mountain View, Calif.-based company, misappropriated trade secrets and breached their contracts to develop the Google Wallet mobile application.
 

Obama administration backs 'online bill of rights'

March 16, 2011

The Obama administration urged Congress to create federal legislation that would allow consumers new online privacy rights and give the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement authority, federal officials told a Senate committee on March 16. Lawrence Strickling, an assistant secretary within the Commerce Department, said the White House "recommends that legislation set forth baseline consumer data privacy protections - that is a consumer 'privacy bill of rights.'"
 

Marketers step up self-regulation practices

Esther D’Amico March 01, 2011

The threat of federal consumer privacy regulation has spurred marketers to take online privacy into their own hands.
 

Marketers support e-commerce legislation

Ben Comer February 01, 2011

Industry experts said the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, passed in December, will protect some consumers by curbing dishonest practices, but it won't affect most ethical marketers.
 

Judge blocks Colorado e-commerce tax law

January 27, 2011

A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Colorado law that required out-of-state online retailers to notify the state of residents' purchases in order to collect sales tax from individual shoppers. The law also required multichannel retailers to notify consumers what tax they owed the state.
 

Brands should self-regulate to avoid government steps

Pam Horan, president, Online Publishers Association January 01, 2011

The Federal Trade Commission recently released a framework for balancing consumer privacy and innovation online, which includes a "Do-Not-Track" mechanism.
 

Marketers chafe at Do-Not-Track proposal

January 01, 2011

Marketers reacted with weariness to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposal to implement an online "Do-Not-Track" option that would allow consumers to opt out of all third-party tracking and behaviorally-targeted advertising.
 

Seek change, apply change, repeat

January 01, 2011

"It is not about adapting and accepting change anymore. It is about aggressively seeking it, being first to apply it, and then seek it again."
 

Banks roll with new financial regulations to learn more about their customers

Alex Palmer December 01, 2010

Financial institutions are emphasizing transparency and choice, and trying to learn more about their customers, increase loyalty, and better target their offers in response to newly enacted federal financial regulations.
 

Google Street View car violates Canadian privacy

October 21, 2010

An investigation by Canada's Privacy Commissioner found that Google violated Canadian privacy laws when one of its Street Car engineers mistakenly collected data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks.
 

Data gathering opportunities are growing but require careful scrutiny by marketers

Jacqueline Renfrow October 01, 2010

Keeping data quality at a high level is easier said than done when the data comes from a range of sources, including social media.
 

States, retailers spar over taxation measures

October 01, 2010

Retailers are again rallying to fight state initiatives to tax merchants who do business with residents without a physical presence in their states.
 

Washington takes aim at behavioral targeting

Ira Teinowitz October 01, 2010

The rich online behavioral data that marketers rely on more and more is under siege by Washington
 

How much information do marketers possess?

Ira Teinowitz October 01, 2010

Companies such as BlueKai and its competitors offer a broad view of the variety of consumer information available to marketers, because its tools gather data, including specific keywords, product research behavior and price searches, from multiple websites.
 

Larry Kimmel, CEO, The Direct Marketing Association

September 22, 2010

Larry Kimmel talks with Frank Washkuch about his new role as CEO of The DMA
 

Pitch product claims wisely

August 23, 2010

Marketers undergo scrutiny in wellness category as health benefits raise doubt
 

Preparing for 'do-not-track' legislation

Kate Muth August 09, 2010

Lawmakers and federal regulators have signaled online consumer privacy, including "do-not-track" legislation, could soon become a legislative priority.
 

DMA sues Colorado over state e-commerce law

June 30, 2010

The Direct Marketing Association filed a lawsuit in federal court June 30 claiming a Colorado law requiring out-of-state marketers and multichannel merchants to charge state tax and deliver customer information to state officials is unconstitutional.
 

Brand presence on Facebook invaluable

June 11, 2010

Despite the grumblings about Facebook privacy issues, social networking - specifically Facebook - social networks are playing a larger part in users' lives each day, according to a study by Publicis' research unit Performics.
 

Consumer privacy data draft bill violates First Amendment, says industry group

June 09, 2010

NetChoice, an industry coalition that counts AOL, eBay and Yahoo among its members, has declared that the consumer data privacy draft bill put forward by U.S. Reps Rick Boucher (D-VA) and Cliff Stearns (R-FL) last month, violates the First Amendment.
 

Infogroup schedules shareholder vote on CCMP acquisition

May 28, 2010

Infogroup has scheduled a June 29 stockholder meeting to vote on CCMP Capital Advisors' proposed $635 million acquisition of the company.
 

Rockefeller introduces Senate online privacy bill

May 19, 2010

Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, a bill that aims to curb sales tactics used by third-party online affiliates such as Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty.
 

Draft privacy bill could shake data collection

May 17, 2010

A discussion draft of what could become sweeping Internet data privacy legislation has pitted direct marketers and list brokers against privacy advocates, with some saying it will kill direct marketing.
 

FTC sues Dun & Bradstreet over QED acquisition

May 10, 2010

The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit May 7 against Dun & Bradstreet, claiming the database company's February 2009 acquisition of competitor Quality Education Data (QED) gave it a monopoly on K-12 education data. The company uses the information to market books and other materials to education professionals.
 

Mobile will take power from the Web, but compliance won't be easy: DMA Mobile Day

March 05, 2010

To address the fast growing emerging mobile marketing space the DMA held its annual Mobile Marketing Day 2010 in New York on March 4th.
 

Credit laws force new marketing approach

Mary Elizabeth Hurn March 01, 2010

Card-issuing companies now must give consumers 45 days' notice if they change interest rates or most fees or agreement terms, according to the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act.
 

Valassis, News America Marketing settle suits in $500M agreement

February 01, 2010

Media and marketing services company Valassis has agreed to settle its pending lawsuits against News Corp.-owned News America Marketing. NAM will pay Valassis $500 million as part of the agreement, reached on January 30.
 

Should privacy be a marketers top priority?

February 01, 2010

Consumers continue to voice concern about the privacy of their data. But should data privacy issues be at the top of a marketer's priority list? Two experts debate the topic.
 

If It Walks Like a Duck...

Matt Silk, SVP, Waterfall Mobile January 20, 2010

Get consent and give users a chance to opt-out. Seems like a pretty straightforward and simple rule for any direct marketer to follow, right? When it comes to SMS, the same rules apply. Mobile messaging is, was, and always should be a permission-based medium for communications.