Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE: HHS), a worldwide direct and targeted marketing company, announced today the release of an e-commerce platform designed to provide small and emerging technology marketers and sellers easy access to technology contacts across North America, Europe and South America. The new site, http://www.citdb.com, allows technology companies with small marketing budgets to search and select contacts from the Harte-Hanks Ci Technology Database (CiTDB), a source of rich installed technology content from 700,000 business sites on three continents.

CiTDB.com users can focus their search on a very specific geographical area or market sector, and rent a list of contacts they want, entirely online by credit card. The data made available are name, company, mailing address and telephone number based on the user's query, but without the location's technology profile information that is only associated with a full CiTDB subscription.

AlphaGraphics seeks investors to open stores in EP

Salt Lake City-based franchising company AlphaGraphics is in the midst of a major expansion effort and has its sights set on El Paso.

The company, which provides marketing and visual communications solutions for small- and medium-sized businesses, plans to open its first El Paso location in the next six months to a year, said Art Coley, senior director of franchise development.

The company hopes to have three to four El Paso stores, all of which will be franchises, within three years, he added.

"The shortest and simplest way (to describe us) is we are a solution provider," Coley said. "We provide marketing and visual communications for small- and medium-sized businesses. What does that mean? Everything from Web sites, e-mail campaigns, direct mailing, printing services for business cards and letterheads.

Spam nuisance 'can be combated'

Consumers are becoming increasingly angry about rampant SMS and email spam, but what they do not know is that the law is on their side and that there are ways to stop and even prosecute persistent spammers. This was the message from Cape Town-based privacy lawyer Brendan Hughes, of Michalson and Associates, in a presentation on data privacy legislation to Durban businesses last week. Hughes, a member of the appeals panel that adjudicates complaints for the Wireless Application Service Providers' Association (Waspa), said that direct marketing using consumers' personal information was "big business". However, Hughes said businesses that continued to send marketing material or spam to consumers who had asked to be removed from mailing lists could be criminally prosecuted under Section 45 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act of 2002.

Spam nuisance 'can be combated'

Consumers are becoming increasingly angry about rampant SMS and email spam, but what they do not know is that the law is on their side and that there are ways to stop and even prosecute persistent spammers. This was the message from Cape Town-based privacy lawyer Brendan Hughes, of Michalson and Associates, in a presentation on data privacy legislation to Durban businesses last week. Hughes, a member of the appeals panel that adjudicates complaints for the Wireless Application Service Providers' Association (Waspa), said that direct marketing using consumers' personal information was "big business". However, Hughes said businesses that continued to send marketing material or spam to consumers who had asked to be removed from mailing lists could be criminally prosecuted under Section 45 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act of 2002.

Auto insurance without car

You might not have a car, but that doesn't mean you don't need auto insurance.

Take Sandy, a Baltimore resident who occasionally rents a car but finds insurance from rental agencies cost-prohibitive.

She writes in an e-mail: "I usually rent a car about twice a month for a day or a weekend, sometimes longer. The loss damage waiver offered by the car rental companies often costs as much as the rental fee - and sometimes even more. I know that many credit card agreements provide insurance coverage for car rentals, but this does not always mean full coverage. Is there a policy available from any insurance company that would provide coverage on a yearly basis for people in this situation?"