• by November 7, 2000

I take it back... A few months ago, when I said industry organizations do more talking than doing, someone must have been listening. Yesterday, the Wireless Advertising Association (WAA) board of directors actually released news of their first accomplishment - the Privacy and Spam Recommended Guidelines.

The guidelines are intended for the WAA members and are based on the premise that wireless push advertising should only be sent to customers who have asked for it.

According to the release, the following voluntary guidelines define privacy and spam issues and set forth the following general principles:

- WAA members should adopt a privacy policy regarding Personally Identifiable Information (PII) that is readily available to consumers at the time that PII is collected and encourage business partners to do the same.

- WAA members should notify wireless subscribers of how PII is being used.

- WAA members should give users notice and choice regarding the use of PII, and they should not use PII for purposes other than those for which it was collected without explicit consent. Such consent shall be obtained by confirmed Opt-in.

- WAA members shall make every effort to ensure that PII is accurate and secure, and where reasonable and appropriate, allow wireless subscribers access to correct or delete such information.

And last, but not least, the guidelines conclude, "The WAA does not condone Wireless Spam."

And it only took 6 months!