When I was talking to a friend’s husband months ago, he asked me what mobileStorm did. I told him, “We provide technology that helps companies send out marketing messages.” He said, “Oh, like spam and telemarketing calls?” and proceeded to go off on one such annoying call he’d recently received. It took a while before he registered my cries of, “Permission-based! Permission-based!”

It’s because of such worriers like him that pressure to regulate consumer privacy is high, especially considering the growth of behaviorally-targeted Internet ads, social network use by minors, and the now-common use of SMS. But the Interactive Advertising Bureau is keen to prove to U.S. lawmakers that self-regulation among legitimate marketers is a much better way to combat abuse than would be the passage of increasingly more laws. The IAB is currently wondering how—and if—it should enforce best practices among all marketers.

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