Board approves new ethical guidelines; calls for new measures to enhance data security
In response to the recent spate of data security breaches on retailers and others, the USA Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has issued a call to action
to all data-driven marketers to recommit to the organisation’s long-standing commitment to ensuring the security of consumer data.
The call to action derived from the approval of new Business Ethical Guidelines around data security by the association’s board of directors, and outlines several new steps that the DMA will take to guide industry best practices and advocate strong data security protections before policymakers at the federal and state levels.
DMA president/CEO Linda Woolley (pictured) said: “Earning consumer trust requires proactive, purposeful action.
“Recent headlines have been full of news about data breaches and, while such situations are a risk of modern business and difficult to prevent, DMA believes that the best defence is a strong offence. DMA standards help businesses ensure that they are protected and ready.”
DMA has championed the setting of guidelines and representing the business community before Congress and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on issues of data security and breach notification. It is now calling on every data-driven marketer to take proactive measures to further enhance data security across the industry, and to:
- Develop and implement a data integrity and governance programme;
- Read and utilise in all marketing practices the principles and guidance outlined in the updated Ethical Guidelines for data security and other marketing practices issues by DMA as part of our public trust with consumers;
- Continue to work as part of DMA with policymakers to enact a national standard for data breach notification. DMA has been supportive of a federal breach notification law; and
- Work with internal and industry stakeholders to identify additional data security measures and practices to help reduce the risk of data breaches across the ecosystem.
The DMA board has approved revisions to DMA’s Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice, which have provided data-driven marketers with generally accepted principles of conduct and formed the basis for industry-wide self-regulatory enforcement for more than 40 years. The updates are in the areas of data security, mobile applications and retailer data.
