Live from Government Affairs: Privacy Tops DM Ailments
A holistic remedy is the only thing that will cure the biggest ailment facing direct marketers: The privacy issue. So says H. Robert Wientzen, president of the Direct Marketing Association.
“Clearly, we need a single, nationwide policy–and not the nightmare scenario of tens of thousands of different data-protection regimes,” Wientzen said during the opening session of the DMA’s Government Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C.
But the industry is likely to get the exact opposite of what it wants, Wientzen continued.
Take the upcoming reauthorization of major parts of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Bush Administration has said that it plans to use this process to strengthen privacy protections. Worse yet, the Act’s state preemption provisions are scheduled to expire next January.
“If that occurs, states, and maybe even localities
