In my wildest dreams I never imagined it would become a catch phrase to describe the single best way to market your company online. Sadly, putting aside the abundance of common sense within the book itself, permission marketing has exploded because the phrase itself has become the ultimate defense for the Net's greatest scumbags. We do permission marketing. No, you don't. At least most sites don't.
Control resides in the hands of the marketer.
The burden of change lies with the customer. They have to opt-out or unsubscribe. That makes marketers sloppy and complacent or, in many cases, downright sneaky. Call it trust marketing and everything changes. If you have to earn and maintain the trust of your customers, you have an ongoing task.