Opt out of credit card offer

Moments before becoming the first man ever to go to the electric chair, William Kemmler complained about his press coverage. "I'm bad enough," he said. "It's cruel to make me out worse."

That line could well be used by compilers and other DMers when attacked on the privacy issue. Whatever their failings, they're rarely as bad as journalists and privacy advocates say they are.

Take American Express and KnowledgeBase Marketing. No sooner did these blue-chip firms announce a "partnership" in May than they were slammed for possible privacy violations.

What was so sinister about their plans? You tell us. As we understand it, the forward-thinking program was designed to offer consultative services to AmEx merchants unfamiliar with database marketing.

But the press jumped on it, proving that a boy who cries wolf will always get a warm reception on a slow news day. USA Today implied that the whole point was to "sell detailed purchasing data about consumers," then compounded that distortion by reporting incorrectly that AmEx would also sell information on non-cardholders.

Talk about being made worse than you are. AmEx contacted the factoid newspaper to contest some of these points. Did it get a correction? Hell, no - it got a second hostile story in which a handful of privacy wonks were given a forum to weigh in on the program, which they clearly didn't understand. (This is a time-honored journalistic technique - when challenged on a story, cover your butt by beating up the victim again.)

The worst thing in the stories was the inference that AmEx is letting cardholders down by not informing them specifically about this program.

Ahem. AmEx allows cardholders the chance to opt out of all mailings, and sends annual reminders of this. Its conduct is exemplary; the toughest guidelines we've seen don't ask for more.

Anyway, the benign new program is a boon to merchants and consumers both. And here's one more tiny point: KnowledgeBase is not being given data on AmEx customers.

For those of you who haven't yet had to swim in these shark-infested waters, here are some survival tips.

First, hire a privacy specialist - someone along the lines of Experian's Marty Abrams, or AmEx's own Peggy. Haney. Have this person review all products in light of fair information practices. This expert counsel will come in handy when the press starts sniffing around.

Next, review all press releases and advertisements for the products. It's at this stage that companies often get tripped up on their own hype. Don't expect the benefit of the doubt.