Letters to the Editor

Re: Loose Cannon: Big Brother, The Gray Lady and Me, Direct Newsline, Monday, April 14, 2008):

Internet fears about marketers spying are just as bogus as the fear of profiling by using data (stats) to support, to protect, and to target. Statistics are just that — factual stats that do not lie and should be used to help make an educated decision.

They are NOT the result of prejudicial actions…and….stats are great for snapshot advertising/marketing to an attentive audience.

Keep it Loose, Cannon!

James M. Capanna
Director, Business Development
The Total Mailing System
West Deptford, NJ

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Thanks for writing the piece “Big Brother, The Gray Lady and Me.” We all share responsibility to (calmly) debate these stereotypes.

Also, keep in mind that newspapers such as the New York Times compete with direct marketing and other forms of advertising for advertising dollars. In recent years, the newspapers have been losing that battle. So, it makes financial sense for them to beat up on all forms of advertising other than newspaper ads. Perhaps that’s not what is going on here, but the people that own the newspaper certainly have good motive to do so.

Just a thought…

Joseph Pych
President
NextMark, Inc.
Hanover, NH

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Maybe Cohen < http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/opinion/05sat4.html > is just ahead of his time.

From The President’s Analyst (1967) (thanks Internet Movie Database) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062153/quotes:

V.I. Kydor Kropotkin (Severn Darden): Are you trying to tell me every phone in the country is tapped?
Don Masters, CEA Agent (Godfrey Cambridge): That’s what’s in my head.
V.I. Kydor Kropotkin: Don, this is America, not Russia!

The organization you suggest already exists. It is the Direct Marketing Association.

Phil Claiborne
Director of Circulation
(The) Elks Magazine
(Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks of the USA)
Chicago

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There is an entity