Oracle's acquisition of Responsys comes as the digital marketing services industry is going through a time of transformation, Forrester analyst Robert Brosnan explained to CMSWire. As he put it, there are a few forces converging to create a busy time for acquisition. Advertising, media, data, and analytics are getting more powerful and are coming at a time when consumers have more control. Bronson said that there is still room in the industry for various different technology offerings to enter the market and these products have the potential to be acquired.

Atmos Energy Corporation has warned its customers that spammers are sending around an email for what looks like a utility bill, but is really spam. The utility company reported that the email has been sent to both Atmos customers and non-customers. The spam email links to a website that contains malicious content. "The fraudulent billing message references a fake account number and contains links to spam," explained Jennifer Ryan, Atmos Energy Media Relations Director, to CMSWire.

The town of Darien, CT is working to set a new email and communications policy for its town board and commission members. The committee will discuss the policy at its Board of Selectmen meeting and address whether using non-town email addresses could create issues under the Freedom of Information Act compliance. The news comes as the government has been cracking down on how agencies conduct official business over email.

MPHJ Technology Investments, the owners of a scan-to-email patent, raised eyebrows last year when they filed a number of lawsuits against small businesses and were accused of abusing their power. Now the company is going up against larger institutions. The company has filed lawsuits against the Coca-Cola Company, Dillard's department store and insurance company Unum Group. The complaints says that the IT infrastructure of these companies, transmits "electronic images, graphics and/or documents via a communications network from a network addressable scanner, digital copier, or other multifunction peripheral," which supposedly infringes on MPHJ's patents.

The Email Experience Council (eec) has awarded senior analyst at UncommonGood Zack Notes with the Stefan Pollard Email Marketer of the Year Award. In addition, the DMA's email arm has honored Oracle|Eloqua's chief privacy officer Dennis Dayman with the Email Marketer Thought Leader of the Year Award.

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel is defending his name against an article in Forbes which portrayed him as an arrogant CEO. According to Forbes, when Mark Zuckerberg invited Spiegel to meet him in Menlo Park, Spiegel responded that he'd love to meet but the Facebook founder would have to come to him. Spiegel claims that this isn't how it went down. He shared a screen shot of the email exchange with Business Insider, showing that he said he'd be happy to meet. "I'll let you know when I make it up to the Bay Area.

Google users can take advantage of a Google Chrome browser extension in order to block emails from specific mailers called Block Sender. Business Insider has called out this feature in an article that gives instructions on how email users can prevent receiving unwanted email. The service costs $9.99 and gives Gmail users unlimited blocks.

New Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) may hit as early as July. The law will be the toughest anti-spam laws in the world when it comes to opt-ins. For example, emailing based on an existing business relationship will become a thing of the past under CASL. Marketers emailing consumers in Canada that do not follow these rules will be fined up to $10 million per violation.

Ready for Hillary super PAC, a group supporting the former Secretary of State to run for president in 2016, has rented an email list from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. The group sent an email out on Sunday from the address "info@hillaryclinton.com" promoting bumper stickers that read "I'm Ready for Hillary." "Grassroots movements happen when neighbors talk to neighbors and tell them to get involved," read the email. "Hillary has what it takes to be the next President of the United States. But today, as she decides whether to run she needs our support."

Displaying your email address publicly is a surefire way to get yourself onto the email lists of unsolicited senders. To help address the problem, Mashable has created a list of tips for releasing your email address publicly without having to give out the actual address. The tech blog suggests using phone numbers, Twitter accounts and form submissions among other ideas to give out your contact on your company's website without risking your email address ending up on a spam list.