Herald staff
WASHINGTON — A group of large e-mail marketing companies proposed a detailed set of privacy standards Monday, hoping the measures will amount to a sort of Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for Internet direct advertisers.
The Responsible Electronic Communications Alliance says the standards will cut down on the number of unwanted e-mails, or spam, that Internet users receive.
The standards presented Monday at a Boston industry trade show include measures that restrict advertisers from sending solicitations to consumers without previous consent and allow consumers to remove themselves from advertisers’ mailing lists.
The rules would be binding for RECA members, Wolf said.
Monday prices: Gold sold for $272.85 a troy ounce, silver sold for $4.935 and platinum sold for $580.60
T-bill rates rise: Interest rates on short-term Treasury securities rose in Monday’s auction. The Treasury Department sold $9.5 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 6.005 percent, up from 5.960 percent last week. Six-month bills sold at a rate of 5.985 percent, up from 5.935 percent. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors — 6.183 percent for three-month bills with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,848.20 and 6.258 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,697.40. The average yield for one-year Treasury bills, the most popular for changing adjustable rate mortgages, fell to 6.09 percent last week from 6.14 percent the previous week.
Home sales rise: Cheaper borrowing costs encouraged Americans to snap up existing homes in August, giving sales their biggest boost in 14 months. But economists said the rebound won’t deter the Federal Reserve from leaving interest rates unchanged at its meeting next week.
Verizon exec slams regulations: The president of the country’s top local phone and wireless company said Monday that U.S. regulatory policy has stifled the development of new technologies. Ivan Seidenberg, president and co-chief executive officer of Verizon, warned that outdated approaches to regulating the communications sector threatens to leave U.S. businesses behind their global counterparts.
Auction house OKs settlement in cheating case: The board of Sotheby’s has approved payment of its half of a $512 million settlement to resolve claims that it cheated buyers and sellers for years by fixing fees with rival auction house Christie’s. Sotheby’s majority shareholder and former chairman A. Alfred Taubman will pay $156 million of the company’s $256 million portion.
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