In what only can be described as an attempt to have there cake and eat it too, Acxiom is refusing to take bulk opt out request from consumers. Wired reports that “Acxiom calls itself the premier source of addresses and phone numbers for telemarketers and mass mailers. But when it receives a list of names of people who want to get off its lists, the company considers the request to be junk mail and sends it back.”
With the type of revenues this company is generating by exploiting peoples personal information and selling it to other companies it is obvious why Acxiom is trying to keep consumers on it’s mailing list.
With the stance the FTC has taken on telemarketers there may be some hope but for companies such as Private Citizen a for profit company that helps consumers remove themselves from marketing list this road block could prove to be a issue. [Wired]
Just my take on this subject, but I would assume that any reputable company representing itself as a blanket opt-out service would at least provide the requests on some type of electronic medium to the data source providers. I wouldn’t expect someone to compile the information related to the opt-outs…what is wrong with sending it via CD? I would consider a packet containing 750+ copied pages junk mail as well….If you want to be treated as a reputable company, then you should provide the service that you are charging for…not just expect someone else to do the work for you. Maybe it’s time that the “not-for-profit” Private Citizen spend the money they are charging to actually provide that service?
Acxiom’s Treatment of Opt-Outs
Wired magazine has an interesting article about Acxiom, a company that collects personal information for sale and distribution to marketers (telephonic and direct mail). The article relates how Acxiom allows individuals to opt-out of Acxiom’s databases…
Read the Wired article. Based on what I read in the article, I don’t know that the FTC would do much of anything on this particular issue (although JetBlue might be different). A bit of a different take at: unSecure Privacy: Acxiom’s Treatment of Opt-Outs.