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FCC To Enforce Do Not Call List, Not FTC

Posted by simoniker on from the welcome-to-acronym-city dept.

Iphtashu Fitz writes "The Associated Press is reporting that the Federal Communications Commission will step in and enforce the national Do Not Call list for the Federal Trade Commission. The FCC is coming to the aid of the FTC because of the recent lawsuit filed against the FTC over the list."

5 of 359 comments (clear)

  1. Why get the FCC involved? by Lord+Grey · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Unless I misunderstand something, it seems that the primary complaint from the Denver court was that the no-call list was discriminating. Non-profit and political cold-calling was still allowed under the plan.

    Fine. Let's not discriminate: Make the other two organizations obey the list as well. An unwanted phone solicitation is just that, no matter who it's from.

    --
    // Beyond Here Lie Dragons
    1. Re:Why get the FCC involved? by Fastball · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Also, since your telephone isn't treated as part of your home and personal domain,

      Then why is it taxed as such?. It isn't really free speech then as I am paying for it, right?

      Bottom line, a person has the right to ignore, turn off, or otherwise for himself squelch free speech that he does not want to hear. You can say what you want, but I have the right to not listen. The DNC beautifully expresses my desire to not listen.

    2. Re:Why get the FCC involved? by dillon_rinker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      this is discrimination
      Absolutely. And when the Department of Defense picks Boeing over Honeywell, that's discrimination. And when the electorate chooses Reagan over Carter, that's discrimination. And when Congress offers tax credits to parents, that's discrimination.

      And when you decide you want Mexican instead of Italian for lunch, that's discrimination. When you choose Gatorade over Budweiser, that's discrimination. When you decide to use Linux instead of Windows, that's discrimination.

      To discriminate means to choose.

      If you agree whole-heartedly with the Denver judge, then you believe that commercial speech is just as important as political and charitable speech. Looking at the roots of the words commerce, politics, and love, I'd conclude that, to you, money is as important as people and love. That's a pretty sad set of values. I think you need to either examine them or express yourself more clearly.

  2. Why wouldn't they comply? by tessaiga · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I found the following quote particularly interesting:
    The Direct Marketing Association, representing more than 70 percent of the telemarketing industry, asked its members last week to abide by the list. Nearly 200 of the largest members have voiced no objection to the request and some have actively pledged to comply, association spokesman Louis Mastria said Monday.
    Given that the Do Not Call list consists solely of people who are not interested in buying telemarketers' products, you'd think they'd be happy about this. Effectively it lets them weed out calls to households who don't want their stuff that would waste their call times, and let them focus on spamming people who are more likely to be responsive. Given how much the telemarketing industry is focused on cranking up their purchases-per-minute, it's not surprising that many companies agreed to abide by the list.
    --
    The bold print giveth, and the fine print taketh away ...
  3. How is this imposing their 1st Amendment rights? by jason.hall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Can someone explain how this is restricting telemarketers' First Amendment right? They can still "speak" all they want - I just don't want them to speak to me. Does the right to free speech mean there's a REQUIREMENT that they have an audience to listen? An unwilling audience?