On Wed, 3 Jul 1996 17:54:07 EDT, Bill Gruber wrote: >OK, if you're worried then how about: >- make it clear to him that commercial use of your list is not allowed and >- set his subscription to REVIEW? A polling organization (possibly as a self-serving form of denial) is not likely to perceive information GATHERING as a commercial use. Setting the subscription to REVIEW won't accomplish much if the whole purpose is to "lurk" on the list to learn what others are saying. The Gallup organization is reputable (individual employees might vary, as with any organization and the real worry may be with Gallup's customers who may not all be worthy of anyone's seal of approval) and would not want to bias information by being a visible presence. Also, just because someone works for Gallup or any other marketing organization, are they any less entitled to participate in forums as long as they follow standard netiquette? After all, if a marketer wants to be nefarious, it's easy and inexpensive to buy an account from any one of hundreds of ISPs and subscribe under any old John Doe. Our subscription lists already have many people who are not exactly what they seem (a fact that usually is revealed by an inadvertent glitch that causes a strange undeliverable mail message or a message to the list that's clearly off-the-wall and sometimes off-the-planet). The July 15 Marketing News has a report on a recent workshop on Internet privacy sponsored by the FTC. The short version is that the FTC wants to give self-regulation a chance before supporting regulation or legislation. The problem, as I see it, is that legitimate marketers already understand that because sellers pay for paper mail while users pay to receive email the two are not equivalent. It's the scumballs (and braindead) who send four line promos with 90K of "To" that need to be regulated off the net--those folks aren't about to self-regulate (heck they aren't even interested in using the technology efficiently). I've been in touch with my Congressman (one of the first in the House to set up an email address) on this issue. My Congressman (or someone on his staff) answers email. In the course of discussing this issue, I found that Congressional staffs are aware there's a problem because so many bozos send blanket mail to everyone in Congress that their mail system has been set to simply filter (sometimes with an explanation) mail from any host/domain not identifiable as from the Congressperson's home district. In short, I can't complain to lots of Congresspeople, only to my own. Will you join me in asking YOUR Congressperson to ask the FTC not to delay regulating the bozos. It should be possible to figure out some sensible regulations that would not penalize legitimate marketers, particularly those like Reilly's that have been long time supporters of the net's development. /s Murphy A. Sewall <[log in to unmask]> (860) 486-2489 voice Professor of Marketing (860) 456-7725 fax http://mktg.sba.uconn.edu/MKT/Faculty/Sewall.html