DMA to Host E-Mail Policy Summit

Washington, DC, May 2, 2007 — From security to spam to spyware, marketers using e-mail to reach out to current and potential customers are faced with a constantly changing landscape of laws and regulations. On Capitol Hill and in state capitals across the country, policymakers are looking at new ways to secure the online marketplace. Ensuring these policies don’t impede legitimate commerce is a challenge that businesses and legislators are constantly struggling to address.

To help marketers make sense of complex and ever-changing policy issues, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) will host an E-Mail Policy Summit on Friday, May 18, 2007, in Washington, DC. The day-long summit will bring together leaders from interactive marketing and the policy arenas for a frank discussion on the future of commercial e-mail.

“E-mail offers fantastic opportunities for reaching customers efficiently,” said Steve Berry, DMA’s executive vice president for government and consumer affairs. “However, the rapidly changing technologies that are driving the growth of interactive marketing also mean that we are often scrambling to stay ahead of the curve on the policy front. The purpose of this event is to bring together some of the best minds from the public and private sectors to take stock of where we are today — and look ahead to where we want to be in the future.”

At the May 18 event, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) will begin the day with introductory remarks regarding future e-mail policy considerations. Morning sessions will include a primer on the current laws that govern e-mail marketing, discussion on how to combat the ongoing problem posed by spam, and a “best practices” discussion on creating legitimate e-mail marketing campaigns that provide maximum deliverability and results.

During a working lunch, participants will hear from Eileen Harrington, deputy director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. In the afternoon, sessions will focus on emerging issues in wireless communications and text messaging, as well as current legislative developments related to spyware, spam, and other aspects of e-mail marketing.

Featured panelists include:

Mike Altschul, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, CTIA
Matt Blumberg, Co-Founder, CEO & Chairman, Return Path
David Cavicke, Minority Counsel, House Committee on Energy & Commerce
Jerry Cerasale, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, DMA
Sana Chriss, Spam Coordinator, Federal Trade Commission
Jordan Cohen, Director of Industry and Government Relations, Epsilon
Stu Ingis, Partner, Venable LLP
Kevin Johnson, President, Acxiom Digital
Ken Nahigian, Minority Counsel, Senate Commerce Committee
Matt Seeley, President, CheetahMail, an Experian Company
David Sohn, Counsel, Center for Democracy and Technology
Charles Stiles, Postmaster, America Online
David Strickland, Counsel, Senate Commerce Committee (invited)
Consuela Washington, Counsel, House Committee on Energy & Commerce (invited)

More information about the summit, including online registration,

is available at www.dmaemailsummit.org.

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About DMA

The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA advocates industry standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today represents more than 3,600 companies from dozens of vertical industries in the US and 50 other nations, including a majority of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit organizations.

In 2006, marketers — commercial and nonprofit — spent $166.5 billion on direct marketing in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated $1.93 trillion in incremental sales. Last year, direct marketing accounted for 10.3 percent of total US GDP. Also, there are today 1.7 million direct marketing employees in the US alone. Their collective sales efforts directly support 8.8 million other jobs. That accounts for 10.5 million US jobs.

The Power of Direct: Relevance. Responsibility. Results.

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