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Re: Loose Cannon: Big Brother, The Gray Lady and Me, Direct Newsline, Monday, April 14, 2008):

Internet fears about marketers spying are just as bogus as the fear of profiling by using data (stats) to support, to protect, and to target. Statistics are just that -- factual stats that do not lie and should be used to help make an educated decision.

They are NOT the result of prejudicial actions...and....stats are great for snapshot advertising/marketing to an attentive audience.

Keep it Loose, Cannon!

James M. Capanna
Director, Business Development
The Total Mailing System
West Deptford, NJ

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Thanks for writing the piece "Big Brother, The Gray Lady and Me." We all share responsibility to (calmly) debate these stereotypes.

Also, keep in mind that newspapers such as the New York Times compete with direct marketing and other forms of advertising for advertising dollars. In recent years, the newspapers have been losing that battle. So, it makes financial sense for them to beat up on all forms of advertising other than newspaper ads. Perhaps that's not what is going on here, but the people that own the newspaper certainly have good motive to do so.

Just a thought...

Joseph Pych
President
NextMark, Inc.
Hanover, NH

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Maybe Cohen < http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/opinion/05sat4.html > is just ahead of his time.

From The President's Analyst (1967) (thanks Internet Movie Database) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062153/quotes:

V.I. Kydor Kropotkin (Severn Darden): Are you trying to tell me every phone in the country is tapped?
Don Masters, CEA Agent (Godfrey Cambridge): That's what's in my head.
V.I. Kydor Kropotkin: Don, this is America, not Russia!

The organization you suggest already exists. It is the Direct Marketing Association.

Phil Claiborne
Director of Circulation
(The) Elks Magazine
(Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks of the USA)
Chicago

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There is an entity – isn’t that the DMA’s charter? I don’t want to sound as corny as Kansas in August, but there it is . . . but perhaps not as untitled as clueless.

If [DMA president John A.] Greco wanted to polish up his rhetoric on the DMA’s brand he might start with the editorial board at the Grey Lady . . . I bet they’d just welcome him on in with a fine cuppa and who knows?? Maybe he and Maureen Dowd and Nicholas Kristof could have a gabfest about response rates and CHAID . . .

Sunny Heyer
Market Segment Manager
AMA Insurance Agency, Inc.
Chicago

* * * * * * * *

In theory, the organization you call for -- a flying "truth squad" – exists; it’s the Direct Marketing Association. Of course, we would have to wake them and explain what the problem was and the talking points for our solution.

Yet another reason to re-think the entire idea of the DMA.

David S. James
Bethesda List Center, Inc.
Bethesda, MD

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I'm sure your premise is correct, that the author of the New York Times piece was raising the alarm without good reason.

But all of us should remember the principle of data collection. Lots of people collect it, but very few know how to use it.

Even if they know how, they can't possibly access the data profitably. Imagine 180 million clicks for a hypothetical low-fat Krispy Kracker, and 160 million clicks for the fat-free version? All split between the entire Facebook universe? Give me a break!

A new book reviewed in the April 13 Sunday Times, "The Commission" by Philip Shenon, attempts to show that all the data from thousands of sources used by the 9-11 Commission, was juggled around, deleted, augmented, argued, and then collected in a politicized document that couldn't possibly reflect the truth.

Fred Morath
Fred Morath Direct Marketing
Natick, MA