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Jan
28
Data Privacy Day 2009!
Chief Privacy Officer
You may not have heard but today, January 28, 2009, is Data Privacy Day. Folks across the United States, Canada, and 27 European countries are celebrating Data Privacy Day together for just the second time ever.
As a privacy advocate, of course I love the idea of Data Privacy Day. Other than International Talk Like A Pirate Day (September 19), this is my new, favorite holiday-that-I-don’t-get-the-day-off day.
I’ve enjoyed this years’ many annual predictions made for the email marketing industry (including those of Return Path’s own Matt Blumberg) this year, and while I enjoy those predictions, I never make any of my own. But, in the spirit of Data Privacy Day, I will predict that 2009 will be the year that email marketers truly recognize and embrace privacy as a critical component of their program success.
I’m not sure how bold of a prediction or statement that really is. I recognize that many of us in the email industry are already best practitioners when it comes to data protection and privacy issues. But, in a world where the online services landscape continues to evolve and shift with remarkable speed, in particular with social networks, younger demographics and the mobile marketplace – email marketers should be compelled to pay more attention to privacy concerns of their users. As consumers online continue to partake of current, new, free, and innovative web services in the market, they also expect very clear transparency regarding their user data and how it is used.
So, if you didn’t know it was Data Privacy Day around the world, it isn’t too late to celebrate and honor it. Here are a few simple suggestions …
Categories: Commentary View Comments
Jul
1
Reminder: New CAN-SPAM Rules Take Effect on July 7
Chief Privacy Officer
Have you updated your email systems to comply with the new CAN-SPAM rule provisions enacted by the FTC back in May? If not, you might need to put the Fourth of July cookout on hold. These rules are enforceable starting on July 7.
For a refresher on what is now required, see my previous post. You can also listen to a recording of our client-only live Q&A session with attorney Alan Chapell of Chapell & Associates. Of course that brings me to another point: if you haven’t already, you really need to consult your legal counsel to get the details on what your specific situation requires. We aren’t lawyers!
A few more resources for you …
Categories: Commentary View Comments
May
19
CAN-SPAM Rules Update: What Senders Need to Know
Chief Privacy Officer
As you probably know by now, last week the FTC released an update to the CAN-SPAM law. You can read the FTC press release here and the full document here. In this post we are going to review what the FTC did and did not do and give you some advice based on our understanding of the changes.
But before we get to any advice, remember that we are not lawyers. If you are in charge of a commercial email program, you should review these issues with your legal resource for actual legal advice on your compliance. This post is based on our initial interpretation of the information put forth by the FTC and our participation in industry calls about the rules change.
Let’s start with what the FTC did change. The Act now …
Categories: Commentary View Comments
Jan
29
International Regulation Alert: New UK Email Law
Chief Privacy Officer
For anyone marketing in the United Kingdom the New Year has started with a new email regulation to decipher and comply with: the UK Companies Act Amendments of 2006.
As in the US, where the CAN-SPAM act requires postal address in the footer of each commercial message, the new UK amendment imposes similar requirements for transactional types of business email.
The law extends company registration requirements already in place for paper business letters and forms — requiring certain company details to appear in email versions of those business letters and order forms. …
Categories: News Comments Off
May
2
It's not all about email
Chief Privacy Officer
The Return Path culture has always focused on teamwork, and we’ve always stressed giving back to the community. As a corporation we support Accelerated Cure, a non-profit focused on finding a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. We also give employees time to support their own philanthropic passions. When Hurricane Katrina hit, we joined so many others who so badly wanted to help those affected by the storm. Instead of donating money, we donated time to Habitat for Humanity.
The first wave of volunteering was last week, and our team of six spent the week working together to gut houses in St. Bernard Parish. Being there reminded us that while our day-to-day mission is important, it is also important to give back to the community — even when that community is the global one
Tell me more
Categories: News Comments Off
Mar
9
Implementing Email Authentication: A Primer
Chief Privacy Officer
One of the most basic elements of our work at Return Path is ensuring that clients use best practices in their email delivery processes. A common recommendation we give is to implement email authentication. Email authentication has two primary benefits: It stymies forgery of email messages and allows senders to build a positive reputation with receivers based upon their mailing behavior. Yet many companies, particularly small ones, have never heard of email authentication — and those who have heard of it have not yet initiated a project to implement it.
How does email authentication work? The most common schemes today — SPF, SenderID, and DomainKeys…
Categories: Explanation How-To View Comments
Dec
21
CAN-SPAM Act in Time for the Holidays
Chief Privacy Officer
Just in time for the Holidays comes the FTC’s “Effectiveness and Enforcement of the CAN-SPAM Act” report to Congress.
Believe it or not it has been two full years since Can Spam was enacted. Part of the law was a requirement that the FTC issue a report on Can Spam’s effect on the spam problem after two years. That time has come…
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Nov
16
Update on Michigan and Utah Registries
Chief Privacy Officer
I wanted to follow up on my earlier post last week regarding the Michigan Children’s Protection Registry Act.
First piece of information is that as of November 16, 2005, the state of Michigan now expects compliance with their Michigan Children’s Protection Registry Act (2004 PA 241).
While there was a pause in Lansing for the past two weeks, likely due to an FTC issued letter which addressed fundamental problems with the registry…
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Nov
7
Concerns with Utah and Michigan Registries
Chief Privacy Officer
Like many in the email marketing world, I’ve been keeping tabs on the Child Protection Registry initiatives in Michigan and Utah. It has been difficult to watch an effort which was based in good intentions get implemented in such a painfully bad way. I had my suspicions that these state laws wouldn’t go well and they really haven’t.
To summarize the situation, over a year ago Michigan and Utah quietly passed Child Protection Registry statutes. The laws in both states are very similar. Each intend to prohibit particular types…
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