U.S. Court Blocks Anti-Telemarketing List

DirkDaring writes "Yahoo is reporting that a U.S. court in Oklahoma has blocked the national 'do not call' list that would allow consumers to stop most unwanted telephone sales calls. With around 50 million phone numbers currently signed up this could get very messy."

Comments

And their web address is...

[chriseaves]

http://www.the-dma.org/, they seem to be quite proud of themselves

Idea not dead

[ArthurDent]

This will get done. The court just has a problem with how the FTC did it. I bet if Congress passed a do not call list bill there would be no problem.

A similar article with a little more

[phlack]

is Here

A nice quote from that article:

In a statement, the DMA said that while it welcomed the ruling, it "acknowledges the wishes of millions of U.S. consumers who have expressed their preferences not to receive" telemarketing solicitations.

Gee, I guess that never occurred to them before this list was created. Now that it has occurred to them, any bets on if they'll actually respect those wishes?

Judges contact info:

[Stonent1]

Judge Lee R. West

http://www.okwd.uscourts.gov/west.htm
You know what to do.

Re:congressional authority

[RedTyde]

They did give the FTC the autority to do this:

Lawmakers were quick to criticize the court's decision, arguing that they had given the FTC the authority to implement the list. "We are confident this ruling will be overturned and the nearly 50 million Americans who have signed up for the do-not-call list will remain free from unwanted telemarketing calls in the privacy of their own homes," Reps. Billy Tauzin and John Dingell said in a statement.

.pdf of the court's order

[I am Kobayashi]

I haven't had time to read it yet, but here it is: Order

Re:And their phone number is...

[chriseaves]

Oh, I should point out their phone numbers: President's Office -- 212.768.7277, ext. 1604 Privacy -- 212.768.7277, ext. 2408

Re:Details of the court

[Christopher_G_Lewis]

OK, here you go:

Chambers Page for The Honorable Lee R. West

Chambers Page for
The Honorable Lee R. West
Senior United States District Judge
Western District of Oklahoma

U.S. Courthouse
200 N.W. Fourth St. Oklahoma City, OK 73102
Rm 3001, Courtroom 303, Third Floor
Chambers Telephone: 405-609-5140
Chambers Facsimile: 405-609-5151

The FCC has approved this.

[Animats]

The issue seems to be that Congress gave the FCC authority to set up a do-not-call list, the FCC issued rules accordingly, and the FCC agreed that the FTC would actually operate the registry. The judge ruled that this was an improper delegation. The judge did not rule that it was a First Amendment issue.

That's either going to be overturned on appeal, or the FCC and FTC will work out some organizational way to deal with it.

Even with the judge's ruling, the do-not-call registry should still apply to businesses directly regulated by the FCC, such as telephone companies.

No clue about cell numbers and unlisted numbers...

[computerlady]

I'm concerned about people who provided cell numbers and unlisted numbers to the list.

Telemarketers have been able to download the list for some time now from donotcall.org. That means they not only have verified that your number is current but that they also have the potential to add to their call lists additional numbers they did not have before.

The nice lady at the court office said attorney's from neither side had ever mentioned that issue and that the judge had not considered it. I asked whether it was not incumbent upon a responsible judge to educate himself as to all the ramifications of any ruling he might make, whether those issues were raised by the parties or not. I reminded her that up to 50 million people are unofficial and apparently unrepresented parties to the suit and I would think the judge should have given a little thought to protecting my privacy rights as he made his ruling.

Congressman Tauzin's aide who is specifically taking calls re this ruling said 1) this issue isn't over - they are looking at legislation and/or challenges to the ruling and that they are moving quickly and 2) as far as she knows, no one at the legislative level has thought about the issue of unlisted numbers which might now be on that list in the hands of telemarketers. Oops. By the way, I started and ended that conversation by expressing appreciation to the Congressman for his efforts on our behalf.

Charlie, who answered the consumer complaint phone for the FTC Southeast region, was a little confused at first as to what my concern was. As soon as he "got it," he asked to be excused for a moment. When he came back a good while later, he reported that as far as they could tell, the download was still available on the website and they were escalating the question up the chain to the national level as quickly as possible so that someone could address it pronto. Good on Charlie! Very sharp young man -- he deserves a promotion!!

Don't you just love the level of foresight on the part of those working to "protect" our privacy? I mean, I truly do appreciate the effort, but they need to do their homework a little better.