InfoUSA CEO Vin Gupta, the only DM executive to appear in a “60 Minutes II” program on financial privacy earlier this year, called on his fellow CEOs in July to follow his lead.
“We have to tell the press our side of the story,” he said during opening remarks at Donnelley Marketing’s Consumer Privacy conference. “CEOs are afraid to talk, as if they have something to hide.”
Gupta added that direct marketers have to take a more active role in the legislative process, and argued that data is increasingly being cut off because of the actions of “a few rotten apples.”
“We have access to a lot of information,” he said. “We used to have access to a lot more. Because of misuse, it was restricted.”
Gupta continued that “most other countries restrict just about everything. You can get home value here — it’s published in the newspapers — but not in Canada. In Europe, you can’t get anything because of misuse.”
And the Federal Trade Commission’s do-not-call registry may only be the first of several national opt-out programs, he said.
“Soon we will have do-not-e-mail, then do-not-mail, then do-not-talk,” Gupta said, only half in jest. “There goes the First Amendment.”
Donnelley Marketing president Raymond T. Butkus added that, “as responsible marketers, we ignore these hues and cries at our own peril.”
The three-day event, which also featured speeches by former President Bill Clinton and former White House spokeswoman Karen Hughes, drew over 100 Donnelley clients and other guests. Among the companies represented were Publishers Clearing House, Hello Direct, Lenox Collections, American Express and Microsoft.
Why hold a privacy conference in Aspen?
“People in Aspen complain the most, and they are the biggest violators,” Gupta joked. “I get more mail and phone calls here, pitching everything in sight. It’s the same people who, in the evening, complain about privacy.”
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