Dutch snippets of the week

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Self regulation in internet and telecom marketing

It was already possible to register yourself against all kind of pushy marketing actions on internet or by telephone in The Netherlands. Now the organisation handling this self regulation has gotten new bylaws and an independent chair person. Members of the Dutch Dialogue Marketing Association (DDMA), being market research companies, call centers and the webshop association, are obliged to use databases with names of people, who do not want to be bothered.

Journalists did not check e-mail

The Dutch media company Talpa and telecom operator Versatel were the victim of neglicence by journalists. The Dutch wire service ANP and the financial service Betten got e-mails saying that Talpa and Versatel were negotiating with T-Telecom. Without checking with the spokespeople of the companies they published the content, which led to a rise in the stock quotes for Versatel. Had the journalists read the e-mail properly, they would have discovered that the mail had been sent through the anonymous e-mail service Shitzooi.nl.

Webshops doing well

While Dutchretailers are complaining about people not spending money, webshop owners show a dramatic rise in revenues and confidence. Coolblue has seen its turn-over grow in the first half year of 2005 with 120 per cent from 6,7 to 14,7 million euro with 12Dutch and Belgian webshops. Computer webshop TakeitNow has grown 47 per cent up tot 2,8 million euro in the first half year of 2005. And book and DVD shop Bol.com received 17.000 applications for the new Harry Potter book.
The confidence in webshops is growing, according to the Thuiswinkel association of webshops. More than 24 per cent of internet users know of the Thuiswinkel, know its label and have confidence in the certificate.

Building an internet directory

The Dutch ministry of justice is said to be building and testing a telecom and internet directory with e-mail addresses as well as fixed line and mobile telephone numbers. For this exercise, telecom operators and ad ISP will be obliged to offer the numbers and names. Many of the ISPs like to wait till the outcome of the European discussion on the obligation of storing data for justice inquiries.



The book E-Content - Technologies and Perspectives for the European Market edited by P.A. Bruck; A. Buchholz; Z. Karssen; A. Zerfass addresses the question how content industries change within a digital environment and what role information and communication technologies play in transforming the competitive landscape. Order through Springer Online.