TORONTO — The Executive Board of the Direct Marketing Association officially took up the issue of how best to deal with members that have refused to sign onto the organization's Privacy Promise at its annual meeting here Saturday.
Although details of that meeting and exactly what action is being planned is still unclear, a statement released yesterday by DMA president/CEO H. Robert Wientzen suggests that noncomplying members' days are likely numbered in the organization.
“The executive board of the Direct Marketing Association voted to take action against those members who have failed to signify their compliance with the Privacy Promise to American Consumers.” The names of those companies, as well as additional steps the board is taking to ensure full compliance with the Privacy Promise, will be made public in mid-November, after additional “due process” procedures have been completed.
The Privacy Promise requires that members in good standing abide by four ethical principles regarding the management of people's personal information including: agreement to provide notice to customers of how informaiton is being used or transferred to third parties; to provide an opportunity for the customer to opt-out from having their personal information transferred to other parties; to honor suppression requests from consumers whether they are prospects or existing customers; and a promise to use mail and telephone preference services when prospecting for new customers.
