A group of 15 large email marketing companies have proposed privacy standards to reduce spam. The standards would ban sending emails without consent, allow consumers to remove themselves from lists, restrict content to relevant topics only, and require disclosure of how customer information will be used. The group hopes these standards will eliminate clutter in inboxes and cut down on internet spam if adopted widely. However, the plan is still in draft form and some companies may not participate, so it may not completely solve the problem of unwanted emails.

1. Tech Group Announces Privacy Standards
Getting "spammed" is the price of using e-mail, it seems.
As mounds of unwanted messages pile up in in-boxes, hawking
anything from debt reduction to weight reduction, some large e-mail
marketing companies want to make sure four-letter words of
frustration aren't directed at them or their clients.
The Responsible Electronic Communications Alliance -- a new group
of 15 companies that includes DoubleClick, 24/7 Media, Bigfoot
Interactive and ClickAction Inc. -- proposed privacy standards
Monday that it hopes will cut down on Internet spam.
The group presented the standards at an industry trade show in
Boston as sort of a "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" for
Internet direct advertisers.
The proposal:
Bans advertisers from sending solicitations to consumers
without consent.
Allows consumers to remove themselves from mailing lists.
Restricts e-mail to relevant content.

2. Requires members to state how the information customers provide
will be used.
"We think this is going to have a major impact and eliminate a
lot of the clutter in people's mailboxes," said lawyer Christopher
Wolf, alliance president.
The plan is still in draft form, and a final proposal will not
be approved before next year.
Getting Personal?
Companies using e-mail are increasingly trying to be more
personalized with the information they send to potential customers,
which means privacy becomes even more important, said industry
analyst Michele Pelino, director of Internet marketing strategies
at Yankee Group in Boston.
Pelino said the alliance's plan has merit because it establishes
ways it can be enforced. Violations would be reported for
investigation to an independent auditor, and companies could be
subject to fines and forfeiture of the seal.
"That's where there seems to be some meat and teeth -- to
monitor and really evaluate whether the members are participating
effectively," Pelino said.
The proposal is based on guidelines issued by the Federal Trade
Commission. Federal regulators have urged Internet companies to
regulate themselves, and the group hopes to get the FTC's
endorsement of the plan.
"The prospect of government regulation was one important
impetus for RECA, because I think the industry would prefer

3. responsible self-regulation," said lawyer Ross Klenoff, who
represents the alliance and helped draft the proposal.
Some companies also have found it difficult to raise the bar on
their own and decided to work together, Klenoff said.
"You run into a difficult situation where you try to raise the
bar on privacy standards, and marketers threaten to walk and go
with another company," he said.
The proposal won't stop unwanted e-mail, because there will be
some companies that won't participate or abide by any other
standards, Klenoff said.
"You can come up with a great solution, but if not all
companies are part of the solution then you haven't completely won
the battle," he said.