ETHICS AND REGULATION
Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is the right thing to do.
A code of ethics is a set of guidelines for making ethical decisions.
The Direct Marketing Association has a detailed code of ethics.
Basic consumer rights are:
1. The right to safety - both physical and psychological harm. They cannot be harassed if they decline to purchase a product.
2. The right to be informed - direct marketers have an obligation to fully disclose what they intend to do with a person’s data
3. The right to selection - consumers can accept or reject any offer
4. The right to confidentiality - consumers right to specify to a given company that the information they provide not be shared.
5. The right to privacy - the ability of the individual to control the access others have to personal information.
LEGISLATIVE
Intellectual property is defined as products of the mind or ideas. Examples: books, music, computer software. The protection of intellectual property is either a copywrite, patent, trademark or a database.
In 1977 the Privacy Protection Study Commission’s report stated…the appearance of an individual’s name on a mailing list, so long as that individual has the prerogative to remove it from that list, was not in and of itself an invasion of privacy.
Spam - unwanted, unsolicited e-mail.
The anti-Spam Act of 2003 called CanSpam basically prohibits commercial e-mail messages with false or misleading message headers or subject lines. All commercial email messages are to be identified as commercial and include a viable return address so recipients can write back and request to be removed from the senders email list.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a government agency directly responsible to Congress. The FCC enforces the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
(TCPA)
TCPA prohibits both for profit and nonprofit marketers from using an automatic dialing system to call any device when the called party is charged unless that party has given prior consent. Telemarketers cannot call cell phones, pagers or toll free numbers.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
The FTC is charged with regulating content of promotional messages used in interstate commerce.
1. All products and or services advertised must be advertised truthfully
2. You must have a reasonable basis for stating or implying that you can ship within a certain time when you advertise mail or telephone order merchandise. If you find you cannot ship within either the time you stated or 30 days you must contact the customer and seek their consent to delay the order.
3. If your business uses the telephone to sell goods or services you must disclose the following: total cost; quantity of goods; limitations; refund policies; the odds of winning a promotion; identify the seller; the purpose of the call is to sell; that no purchase or payment is necessary to be able to win a prize.
The Federal (DNC) registry - Do not call list. The fine for non-compliance is set at $11,000 for each violation.
United States Postal Service - through its inspection service has rules and regulations regarding fraud and deception.
State and Local Regulations
Every state has it’s own laws and regulations regarding direct response marketing