IT Confidential: Even The DMA Has Had Its Fill Of Spam

Folks, if we don't do something about it, spam's going to kill legitimate E-mail marketing. It has become a plague." I feel that way, I just didn't know the Direct Marketing Association felt that way, too. But that's what the head of the DMA, Robert Weintzen, said at the group's annual conference last week in San Francisco. Not only that, Weintzen said the DMA will work with states and Congress on anti-spam legislation. Already, 26 states have anti-spam laws. Seven have enacted anti-spam legislation that mandates E-mail labeling, such as "ADV" in the subject line, which facilitates filtering. "And several companies already are being charged under these laws," Weintzen said. So it makes sense that the DMA would want to be involved in the legislative process, if only to keep its members updated.

Whatever happened to in-flight online connections? Lufthansa and British Airways are set to test systems that will let passengers crossing the Atlantic log on at speeds comparable to DSL connections. Domestically, Verizon is rolling out a service that lets passengers on Continental Airline IM on connections as fast as 56 Kbps. The service, called JetConnect, is in use on a dozen planes now, a spokeswoman says, and should be available on 100 planes by year's end. The jets have servers that periodically update wirelessly, providing news, sports, destination information, and games to notebooks plugged into JetConnect. Plans are under way to boost JetConnect to DSL speeds.

Mayi Canales, acting CIO for the Treasury Department, left government work last week after a 10-year stint to begin a career as a consultant. She's teaming with friend Migo Miconi, the former staff director of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, to form M2 Strategies, which will advise federal and state agencies on strategic planning, contract proposals, and budget and grant applications. At the federal CIO Council, Canales chaired the panel overseeing E-government initiatives to develop cross-agency Internet and IT systems and services. Canales had been heading IT at Treasury for most of this year while CIO Jim Flyzik is on special detail to the White House as an adviser to Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge. No successor has been named.

Speaking of CIOs, the top tech people from ABC News, Morgan Stanley, New York City, New York University, Philip Morris, and other organizations will discuss the role CIOs play in providing business value and boosting the nation's sagging economy this week at the CIO Forum at New York's Hilton Hotel. The event, sponsored by the Society of Information Managers, is for CIOs (or equivalent prequalified senior-level IT managers) and SIM chapter board members only.

I didn't want to go anyway. It's always the same old creamed chicken with fennel. Make it up to me with an industry tip, at [email protected] or 516-562-5326. If you want to talk about spam legislation, in-flight E-mail, or CIO envy, meet me at InformationWeek.com's Listening Post: informationweek.com/forum/johnsoat.