Will "do-not-track" legislation be enacted?

Last week I talked about fact based marketing and how useful and beneficial it is for marketers as well as how much data and information is out there is.  This is nothing new.  However, the Internet has accelerated and accentuated concern over the privacy and security of information and what it means to businesses and marketers and to consumers.

With the discussion last month between the FTC and Congress considering a "do not track" registry, do we have reason to be concerned?  And what does it mean should legislation like this be enacted?

Certainly the marketing community has survived through do not call lists, do not mail and CAN-SPAM.  Perhaps this potential regulation will simply join the ranks of these other regulations and guidelines and marketers will figure out how to communicate in other ways.

What does this all mean though to the end consumer and to the marketer?  Is it bad for marketers to have information that makes their messaging more relevant and timely for the consumer?  Unfortunately, many of these rules and regulations are not for the legitimate, ethical marketers but for those who have nefarious intent in many cases.  Will this kind of legislation really protect us from those practitioners?  I don't know about you, but I still receive plenty of emails that are not CAN-SPAM compliant and the volume of these doesn't appear to have slowed.  According to the Pingdon blog from January of this year, in 2009, there were 200 billion spam email message sent a day!

So, even if this legislation is enacted, will it protect consumers privacy or will these illegal abusers simply continue as they have in other mediums? 

For legitimate marketers, is there value in data collection?  I believe the answer is surely yes.  It helps me become more efficient in my marketing, driving higher returns and better profits.  In this era of a continuing slow economic recovery and lack of job growth is driving profits and corporate growth a good thing?  I believe the answer is also yes.

Do consumers and our marketing targets benefit from our legitimate use of data?  If it reduces irrelevant messages, provides valuable content and insights of interest to the end recipient, then I would suggest the answer is yes.   Paul Rubin, of Emory University, says it much better than I can in his Wall Street Journal article Ten Fallacies About Web Privacy.

Speak up about this proposed new legislation.  We all have a stake in the future of effective, relevant and legitimate marketing communication.