Live From New Orleans: Larry King Live

Larry King ran a morning keynote panel that was jumping with controversial questions and spirited responses.

At one point King asked DoubleClick chairman Kevin O’Connor, “Why aren’t there laws against spam?” O’Connor, whose company just fattened up its e-mail division and has been scrutinized over its potential privacy violations, deflected the question by remarking to co-panelist Postmaster General William J. Henderson, “If you really want to shock this audience, you should announce that you’re dropping postal rates.”

It was just a momentary deflection. Privacy was the recurring theme in yesterday morning’s keynote. So was humor. King warmed up the crowd by repeating the question he is asked most frequently: “What was it like to be kissed by Marlon Brando?” (which happened when King interviewed the actor). King’s answer: “I can’t stop thinking about him. I woke up in the middle of the night yelling, `Stella!’ and I don’t even know a woman named Stella.”

On privacy, the third panelist — Procter & Gamble’s global marketing officer Bob Wehling — pointed out again and again that consumers must control the data that’s collected on them and how it’s used. “As long as we recognize that the consumer is in charge, we’ll be fine,” he said.

O’Connor agreed, but said consumers aren’t concerned about the privacy issues industry insiders think they are. He said DoubleClick’s focus groups revealed that issues such as credit card fraud and identity theft — and not data-collection issues — were the big concerns.

“That’s not privacy, that’s fraud,” he said. “People committing fraud have to go to jail.”

“Your company took a hit on this,” King remarked, turning to O’Connor. O’Connor didn’t respond to this apparently oblique reference to DoubleClick’s being criticized for plans to marry data from the Abacus Alliance with its anonymous data collected online.

But King tried again. “Why did your company take a hit?” he asked.

“Because we’re the leader,” O’Connor said.

The Internet has uncovered a whole new set of privacy issues. Mail would never be opened; even phone-tapping was not all that common, King said to Henderson. People who did violate privacy would be arrested, Henderson responded.

Online, though, Wehling pointed out, there are many benefits to consumers when lots of data is collected on them. They want personalization without intrusiveness, and the industry must prove it can deliver.

“We’re going to solve these [privacy] problems but we’ve got to get on with it with a sense of urgency,” he said. “Once [consumers] know their interests are being protected, [they win].”

With customers’ approval about their data, “we can have our cake and eat it too — protect privacy and still deliver targeted ads,” O’Connor said.

How does the ubiquity of the Internet affect direct mail?

“Someone was showing me a thing you lick it’s called a stamp,” King said.

“Personal mail is gone already,” Henderson said, but direct mail is not. “Michael Dell told me [his company mails] 40 million pieces a year.”

C’mon, said King, “It’s kind of rude to send your mother a Mother’s Day e-mail. “Do you?” he asked O’Connor.

“Absolutely,” O’Connor said, adding sheepishly, “E-mail also gives my mother a chance to tell me what to do 10 times a day.”

And the Internet encourages traditional marketing. Catalogs won’t go away, all three agreed. In fact, catalogers’ Web sites drive people to traditional print catalogs. Then, “someone has to deliver [the mail],” Henderson said. “The Internet provides opportunities to cut out the historical infrastructure, and we’re taking advantage of it.”

“What should we be afraid of?” asks King?

“The digital divide,” Henderson said, pointing out that although the common belief is that everyone will have a PC in five years, those who don’t have the financial well-being to own one will be cut off. “And the greater the divide in your country, the greater the unrest,” he added.