Internet activists are taking matters into their own hands. A grassroots organization is forming in direct reaction to the debut of the Responsible Electronic Communication Alliance, sources said.
Founders of the yet-to-be named group said RECA’s membership was not diverse enough to set industry-wide email marketing standards because the group had initially excluded anti-spam groups and had been tentative about encouraging ISPs to join.
“They specifically excluded everyone except this small select group of invitees,” said Rodney Joffe, CEO of Whitehat Inc. “They precluded from membership the people that actually own the highways.”
However, a meeting was held last night at which RECA seemed to have changed its tune. RECA met with representatives of Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS) and Rosalind Resnick, CEO of NetCreations, who formed another e-mail standards group, to work out their differences over who would be allowed to join RECA.
“I don’t know that we’ll invite [MAPS and other privacy groups] to join, but we’ll invite their input” if they adhere to RECA’s basic principles of eliminating or reducing spam and ensuring consumer privacy, Chris Wolf, RECA president said.
Joffe, who attended the meeting, said RECA agreed to make it clear that its guidelines are merely proposals and are open to input from all stakeholders, including privacy groups, Internet service providers, marketers, as well as e-mail service providers.
Joffe told DIRECT following the meeting that he would consider joining RECA if they could work their differences over opt-in guidelines. MAPS is against the opt-in policies RECA set forth in its proposal, which calls for marketers to use a “single opt-in” procedure and only send an e-mail confirmation when there’s a likelihood of inaccuracy. MAPS argues that a verified opt-in should be the standard.
“No one organization is going to have a bigger say,” RECA board member Geoff Smith of ClickAction, said before the meeting. “MAPS is one voice among many.”
Joffe said he would help RECA facilitate talks with ISPs.
Organizers of the yet-to-be-named grassroots group include Paul Vixie, founder of Mail Abuse Prevention System in Redwood City, CA; Ian Oxman of Choose Your Mail, Nick Nicholas, a former spokesman for MAPS; John Levine, the author of Internet for Dummies. The group is being funded by its organizers.
Meanwhile, RECA has set up a meeting with the FTC to discuss its proposals, said Peter Arnold, executive director of RECA.
At a meeting also held yesterday, RECA appointed a board of directors. They are in addition to Smith: Regina Brady, Rick Buck, Ashlen Cherry, Donna Cunningham, Christine Frye, Rodney Gould, John Lawlor, Kate Leahy, Todd Love and Bennie Smith.
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