Issue 5

VoIP Provider Sued Over 7.5B Calls to DNCR
According to a new suit filed last week in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, VoIP provider Avid Telecom “chose profit over running a business that conforms to state and federal law.” The press release notes that Avid Telecom used spoofed or invalid caller ID numbers in 7.5 billion calls to telephone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. Avid Telecom owner Michael Lansky, and its vice president Stacey Reeves were named in the suit which was filed by 48 States and Washington, D.C.

Yelp Shares Jump 10% on Hopes of Angi Merger
The market appeared to agree with activist investor TCS Capital’s assessment last week that Yelp should explore a merger or sale with home services competitor Angi. Reuters reported that TCS founder Eric Semler believes the merger could double the value of Yelp’s shares. The Reuters piece also notes that “(Yelp) is witnessing strong demand for its advertising products at a time when businesses are cutting back on marketing, with revenue rising 13% in the last reported quarter and Yelp raising its full-year net revenue outlook.” Like Mick Jagger, investors are asking “Angi, Angi, where will it lead us from here?”

Is it Time to Rethink Our Walled Gardens?
Earlier this month Rob Rokoff of Verisk Marketing Solutions published this think piece in VentureBeat. “The time has come to disrupt the status quo of walled gardens and truly lean into empowering consumer ownership of their identity, providing real tools for data controls and enabling partnerships that redefine advertiser-publisher engagement with tech giants,” he explains. Rokoff later points out an important observation about Apple’s definitely-not-at-all-ulterior “Hide My Email” feature. The piece also touches upon Universal ID solutions, Global Privacy Control, and some of the thorny parts of the data privacy discussion.

Debt Ceiling Fight Continuing to Dampen Mortgage Activity
Lead generation becomes even more critical for lenders as National Mortgage News reports that “the 30-year contract fixed rate for conforming mortgages with balances below $726,200 jumped up 12 basis points to an average of 6.69%, its highest point since March, compared to 6.57% a week earlier.” The report also notes that data from the Mortgage Bankers Association and U.S. government research both show an uptick in new home sales between March and April, with a decrease in average price.

PACE Takes the Pulse of Compliance & Legislation in DC
Industry participants from across the lead generation, marketing and compliance communities came together last week at PACE’s Washington Summit. Attendees heard from leading market and legal experts on a variety of issues facing the industry from regulatory rulemaking to consumer privacy. Among the highlights, an enlightening discussion between Lois Greisman, Associate Director, Division of Marketing Practices at the Federal Trade Commission and Michele Shuster of MacMurray & Shuster LLP. Greisman noted that when it comes to privacy laws, what you see in the current resolution is that the federal government is “setting the floor” with the notion that the states are going to do something more protective. They also discussed the ins and outs of Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, what valid consent really means (hint: directly received by you from the consumer), and teased the FTC’s release of data around rising fraud in the text messaging channel.

LC Community Coming to Chi-Town This Fall
LeadsCon Connect will take place in Chicago this September 27-28, so please take a moment right now to block off the dates in your calendar. We’ll be announcing more details in the coming months, but between the peer-to-peer match-making and networking elements already taking shape, you are not going to want to miss this one!