SAN FRANCISCO, CA - October 27, 2004 - (PromotionWorld) - The Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy (ISIPP) and the International Council of Online Professionals (iCop) announced today a partnership designed to bring to online small business professionals and publishers the same levels of visibility, accountability and email deliverability as their larger corporate colleagues.
Through the partnership, iCop's membership, consisting of nearly 650 online small businesses and publishers, will be able to participate in ISIPP's email accreditation program, the ISIPP Accreditation Database (IADB). Emailers listed with IADB are able to declare their email sending policies, and receive a score based on how ethically they run their email lists and avoid sending spam. Internet service providers, spam filters, and other email receivers check email coming from a given sender against the IADB to determine the profile of the sender and the email they send.
"We have every manner of business included among our members," explained jl scott, ph.d, Executive Director of iCop. "We have bookkeepers, consumer protection agencies, financial services, entertainers, realtors, travel agents, gift shops, and everything in between. As diverse as they are, the one thing which they all have in common is that they are small businesses operating in the online marketplace, and when they have email deliverability issues their voices just aren't heard. This partnership is going to change all that."
Members of iCop, after passing iCop's own accreditation check, will be able to participate in ISIPP's IADB at a special partnership rate especially designed for small businesses, and to gain all of the advantages of email accreditation enjoyed by larger email service bureaus and online marketers. Email publishers already participating in ISIPP's program include Informz, aWeber, Innovyx, Get Response, Lockergnome, MacJournals, and e-Dialog.
According to ISIPP CEO and President Anne P. Mitchell, Esq., smaller online publishers and small businesses have traditionally been overlooked and are largely missing from the email deliverability discussions which has been taking place among ISPs, spam filters, and large email senders in the past year. "We completely understand the frustration of the smaller online business owner, and most especially newsletter publishers. Most deliverability and whitelisting programs out there are simply priced out of their reach and, quite frankly, could not care less about their needs. When we brought our IADB online we went out of our way to create participation levels which were accessible to online publishers, and we are delighted to work with iCop to assist with small business email deliverability, and to help bring a voice to their membership in the online dialogue."
Added scott "Our entire raison d'etre is to advocate for and represent our online small business professionals with the highest standards of ethics. We are very pleased to be able to provide this partnership to our members."
For more information about ISIPP's IADB see http://www.isipp.com/iadb.php or send email to e-mail protected from spam bots.
About the International Council of Online Professionals
The International Council of Online Professionals (iCop) is a membership organization for online micro-business owners around the world who adhere to the highest standards of business ethics as espoused by the association. Founded in 2000, the organization provides training for newer online business owners and self-regulates the online professions by enforcing codes of professional standards and ethics among members. iCop is pleased to have been invited to sit on the small business panel at the FTC Email Authentication Summit in Washington, D.C. in November.
For more information about iCop see http://www.i-cop.com, or write to e-mail protected from spam bots
About the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy
The Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy (ISIPP) is a privately held corporation headquartered in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. ISIPP's advisors provide expert analysis and consulting services to legislators, governmental and regulatory agencies, industry leaders, educational institutions, and the press. Founded in 2003 and privately funded, ISIPP provides services such as the Spam Law Enforcement Database and the ISIPP Email Accreditation Database, and sponsors organizations and events like the Email Processing Industry Alliance and the International Council on Internet Communications, and "Spam and the Law" and "International Spam Law & Policies" conferences.