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DMA in DC 2012: Critical Issues for DMAAction

DMA Members Explore Critical Issues,
Take DMAAction During DMA in DC 2012

On March 26-27, 2012, DMA hosted its annual policy conference, DMA in DC 2012.  Business and nonprofit members from across the country joined DMA staff and a stellar line-up of expert panelists for a day-long issues briefing before heading to Capitol Hill to advocate on the issues that matter most to their organizations.  Read on for session highlights, speaker presentations, and related press coverage.

Washington and Beyond: Perspectives from DMA Government Affairs 
The March 26 issue briefing began with the DMA Government Affairs team describing the current “state of play” on critical policy issues in Washington and across the States.  Discussion ranged from postal reform and privacy legislation to proposals that would change state taxation regimes and reduce the charitable deduction.

 

Where The Enforcers Are: Regulatory Threats to Your Business 
Representatives of the nation’s primary enforcers of consumer protection law, Lois Greisman, an Associate Director in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Division of Marketing Practices and Dennis Cuevas, of the Consumer Protection and Telemarketing Fraud office of the National Association of Attorneys General, spoke to attendees about some of the issues in their sights, including illegal robo calls and text messages.  Teaming together they are working to crack down on these marketing practices which implicate legitimate marketers and marketing.  However, it was not all bad news as Helen MacMurray, Partner, MacMurray, Petersen and Shuster, explained.  Industries that have had problems in these areas have worked to clean up their own acts and impose on themselves codes of conduct that weed out the bad actors and rehabilitate once derided marketers.  

Lay of the Fundraising Landscape: A Survey of State and Federal Issues
Panelists (and former state charitable solicitation regulators) Tracy Boak and Karl Emerson went through a top ten list of issues nonprofits need to focus on with regards to state charitable registrations. Nonprofits heard about the difficulties in the registration process and how they can be avoided and some of the recent issues at the state level. Regulators are increasingly under financial pressure and may not have as many resources, yet the filing requirements can be quite onerous, and all nonprofits must pay close attention to their filings. Materials:

  • Karl Emerson, Nonprofit Counsel, Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads (PDF)


Not Your Mother’s PII: The Shifting Sands of Online Privacy
Experts from business, government and academia and the legal world (no, this isn’t the start to a bad joke) hashed out the complicated issue of online privacy in a lively session that began just moments after the FTC released its long-awaited privacy report.  Stuart Ingis, DMA General Counsel and Partner, Venable lead a discussion focused on scoping out what online privacy should and should not be.  Jennifer Barrett Glasgow, Chief Privacy Officer, Acxiom, noted that there are three buckets of “identifiability” with regards to data: identified, identifiable and anonymous – not all necessarily deserving the same treatment.  Christian Fjeld, Senior Counsel, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, U.S. Senate, made the point that consumers expect to have notice of what their privacy rights are and to have those rights respected.  He also stressed that it was important to have consumer advocates at the table with business in discussions on privacy.  Berin Szoka, President of TechFreedom argued that sorting out the best way to address online privacy is an area best left to a multi-stakeholder process and not Congress.  Finally, Justin Brookman, Director, Project on Consumer Privacy, Center for Democracy & Technology, noted that he was glad to see the FTC call for legislation because business needs clarity about what means to be fair with data.

Luncheon Keynote Address by FTC Commissioner Julie Brill 
During her keynote address, FTC Commissioner Julie Brill told attendees that the FTC will be vigilant in enforcing self-regulatory codes of conduct among companies in the area of data privacy.  Brill said that a company’s failure to live up to a voluntary code of conduct would act as a scarlet letter in an FTC enforcement action.  “We will view adherence to such codes favorably in connection with law-enforcement action,” she said. “And we will enforce industry’s promises to abide by such codes.”  In its privacy report released Monday, the FTC said it was working with the Department of Commerce and industry to “facilitate the development of sector-specific codes of conduct.”  While the codes have yet to be developed, Brill told attendees that the FTC wasn’t going to sit idly by if companies that pledge to abide by them subsequently do not.  “We will view very favorably, in the context of enforcement actions, companies that agree to abide by those codes of conduct,” she said. Materials:

  • Keynote Address by FTC Commissioner Julie Brill (PDF)


Business Case Studies: Ethical Marketing in the Age of Big Data
Garry Brown of Highlights for Children, Jeanette Fitzgerald of Epsilon, Susan Fox of Disney and Sal Tripi of Publishers Clearing House provided vivid case studies focusing on the difficult issues surrounding collection, use and protection of consumer data, including children.  Attendees were told to fully understand what data their organization is collecting and how it will be used when establishing their marketing program.  If children are a focus of any marketing, safeguards, which may include monitoring of any chat room, for example, must be in place and constantly reviewed and updated.  Finally, every organization should have a written plan concerning security and breaches—training all employees, stopping any breach, assessing what data was breached, what are the legal requirements concerning the breach, what is the communications plan to customers, police and the public, who will speak publicly for the organization.  Materials:

  • Sal Tripi, Assistant Vice President, Digital Operations and Compliance, Publishers Clearing House (PDF)
  • Jeanette Fitzgerald, General Counsel, Epsilon (PDF)


Tax Issues for Tax-Exempts: Charitable Deductions, Giving Incentives, 990s
Panelists George Constantine, Chip Watkins and Steve Taylor each provided insight into the tax landscape faced by charities. George Constantine gave a front line view of the IRS filings issues with the Form 990, while Chip Watkins gave insight into the backed up reinstatements for nonprofits that lost their tax exempt status and how reinstatement works. Steve Taylor provided key advocacy points for participants to take to the Hill regarding preservation of the charitable tax deduction. Chip Watkins stressed that it's important to point out that the charitable tax deduction is the one tax deduction that does not have any direct benefit to the donor--the benefit goes directly to the charity unlike other deductions (like the mortgage interest deduction.) Materials:


Politics, Policy and Procedure: How Washington Really Works
Fruzsina Harsanyi, Senior Advisor at the Public Affairs Council, familiarized attendees with the role of lobbying and advocacy in supporting an organization’s strategic interests.  She made the case that lobbying and advocacy have an essential role in the development of sound public policy and that every organization has a responsibility to influence the policy environment in which it conducts business. Materials:


Cookies and Conversation with Postmaster General Pat Donahoe
In a wide ranging presentation, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe  (PMG) spoke candidly about the Postal Service’s (USPS) financial condition.  He acknowledged that uncertainty about the legislative process is having a negative effect on the mailing industry’s commitment to the mail and, in turn, USPS efforts to deal with its financial crisis.  He urged those in attendance to relate to lawmakers the importance of moving promptly in order to alleviate these industry-wide concerns.  In an attempt to address concerns in Congress and in the industry concerning mail processing plant closings and the impact those closings would have on the overnight delivery of First Class Mail (FCM), the PMG indicated that the USPS might be positioned to scale back its original plan to close half of its 475 processing plants to closing only one-third of those facilities.  That scaled down plan would provide for overnight delivery in a local area for FCM and would provide significant savings for USPS. Materials:

  • Pat Donahoe, Postmaster General, U.S. Postal Service (PDF)

Keynote Address by U.S. Representative Mary Bono Mack
Following the issue briefing, attendees enjoyed a keynote address by Representative Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) over dinner.  Representative Bono Mack, who heads the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee taking the lead on the privacy issues, say that Congress has considerable work to do to understand data privacy issues before deciding what, if any, sort of privacy legislation is needed.  She said more study is needed to determine if ideas like an “eraser button" or "Do Not Track" technology are even feasible. While praising industry for its work on self-regulation, Bono Mack noted that even efforts by DMA, the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) and others don't account for those companies and entities that do not commit to improving online privacy. On data security, Bono Mack said she would continue to "look for an opportunity to push and to move it forward.”

Taking "DMAAction" on Capitol Hill
The following day, member companies joined DMA’s Government Affairs team for a series of Capitol Hill meetings, advocating directly on issues of postal reform, privacy, data security and proposals to reduce the charitable deduction.  DMA members met with the offices of Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Al Franken (D-MN), Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Michael F. Bennet (D-CO), Tom Carper (D-DE), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Pat Toomey (R-PA), John F. Kerry (D-MA), Scott Brown (R-MA), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), as well as Representatives Cliff Stearns (R-FL), G. K. Butterfield (D-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John B. Larson (D-CT), Stephen Lynch (D-MA 9), Elijah Cummings (D-MD 7) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL).  Materials:


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