Wow! being last week in Washington, D.C. was a head-turner. This post might sound like a bore to read, but stick with it and begin to apply it to your email and other online marketing programs.

First, The United States Department of Commerce with the participation and cooperation of the European Commission and the Article 29 Working Party on Data Protection (those entrusted with privacy in the EU) held the "Across the Divide: Successfully Navigating Safe Harbor --
The 2009 Conference on Cross Border Data Flows, Data Protection and Privacy"

In this, participants examined the progress that the Framework has made, reviewed any changes made to the process for approving binding corporate rules, looked at new paradigms for privacy compliance, and address the role information security plays in data protection and privacy. Other topics considered included:

• Cross border data sharing during pandemics
• privacy by design
• strategic information management for the enterprise
• social network service providers and behavioral advertising in cloud computing
• global privacy standards
• electronic discovery in civil litigation

Second, the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce held another joint hearing to examine consumer data collection & use. Witnesses testified before a joint hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection (CTCP) and Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet (CTI) last week in which they discussed collection and commercial use of consumer data in the offline and online marketplace.

Members of the committee's expressed interest in learning what controls would instill confidence in consumers about data collection and use, questioning whether concerns about targeted marketing would be allayed by providing thorough disclosures of what and how information is collected and offering consumers the choice of opt-in or opt-out depending on the nature of the information.

As you may already know, the chairmen and ranking members of both subcommittees are working on draft legislation to address a range of privacy issues at the federal level. A draft bill is expected to be circulated in the next several weeks.

Folks, you've heard it from me once , if not twice, or three times. Privacy and compliance should be an integral part of your online marketing activities and daily decisions when creating campaigns. As it is today, the Internet knows no bounds when it comes to states and country borders. Many of these countries already have stringent privacy regulations that you might have to comply with when it comes to opt-in for email and or tracking cookies.

• Who Cares About Privacy Policies?
• Privacy policy isn't enough anymore
• Privacy in marketing/advertising

What we are seeing today in these sessions all applies to online and possibly offline marketing. Will we see a U.S. privacy federal rule like Canada and the EU? have today. Very possible in my opinion, but will not be without major discussions as you see above. You need to ensure your companies are involved in these discussions or at a minimum monitoring these changes.

More reading: FTC Urged To Clamp Down On Data Collection Online

-Dennis
Eloqua

Don't Just Send, Deliver!