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10th Circuit Says FTC Can Enforce Do Not Call
TCPALaw writes "Reuters is reporting
that the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has just ruled that the FTC can
go ahead with administration and enforcement of the national Do-Not-Call
list, staying a lower court ruling that blocked the FTC from
implementing the list. Now I can sue
those pesky telemarketers .. I have already gotten
3 telemarketing calls to the phone number I put on the national list
since the list went into effect."
Reader jhlund1976 points to the court's decision itself. Note, as
strredwolf does, that this only means the FTC can "run the registry while a
challenge from telemarketers winds its way through the courts." Strredwolf also points to the
all-knowing
Google News link.
here in canada we dont have any fancy do not call lists. I've started doing it the old fashioned way. when telemarketers call i tell them to please never call back again. before, i received at least 2 calls per day, now its about 3 per week, and the number keeps decreasing. it actually works, if you are getting repeat calls from certain parties. so, try that out, people in canada, and other non-US places.
Telemarketers may still call you, if they have a pre-existing business relationship with you. So if you bank with BofA for example, BofA and all of its subsidiaries (and IIRC, business partners) can/will call you.
It's not in force until the court cases are resolved, so yeah you will still get calls. Move to Pennsylvania, we have a DNC list and since being on it I have gotten no calls.
Actually, it's the Telephone Preference Service and it works great. I work from home a lot and was amazed at how many nuisance phone calls I got during the day. It reached a point where I stopped answering the phone and would only call back if it was a genuine number. Registering with the TPS has changed all that. The unsolicited calls have stopped and my phone is my own again. This service is definitely something you will appreciate when you get it.
Macka
Under the new regulations passed, they are required to provide you with their name/phone number. If they don't, use complain about a call feature on your phone. When the telco calls to find out about your situation explain it to them.
No more Micro$oft bashing from me. Its like bashing at the special olympics.
...And it includes anyone and everyone who I don't recognize on my Caller ID.
If people don't have the courtesy to identify themselves when they call, I won't answer the phone. I certainly don't answer calls from the Number 1 caller, "Out Of Area".
And best of luck to anyone trying to sell windows to my answering machine.
The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
The arguement about the free speech issue not withstanding, there is a very fact about this bill that makes the law completely irrelevant in the far term.
This is because of two loopholes that exist in the law. For one, you have the issue of the pre-existing business relationship. While this is not presently a problem, what you're going to see happen is many companies that were previously not in the business of telemarketing opening new subsidiaries solely devoted to offering their "valued customers" "valuable offers" from their "valued partners."
The second loophole really isn't a loophole per se, but a simple and unfortunante fact that US law does not affect those overseas. Already, a large portion of telemarketing is being pushed to overseas locations -- much like the rest of US jobs. Calls originating in India from a corporation headquartered in the Bahamas won't be affected by this law.
In short, all this law will do is cause a major shift in the telemarketing industry. Banks and grocery stores will become the new telemarketing companies, but in the long term, we'll just be annoyed by Indians and Cambodians.
All I've got left is a cell phone. No land line.
And the cost difference is $5... Less!
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
I have a land line that I never connect to a phone. Its just for internet use. But, whenever I am filling out forms and providing phone numbers in applicatios, I give out this number.
I have a cell phone for all communication purposes and I only give out that number to the people who can call me. Once in a while, very rarely telmarketers call on the cell number too, but if I tell them they are calling me on my cell phone, they hang up and never call back.
New year Resolution: Don't change sig this year
Apparently this is a little known fact, but for those of you still recieving calls after the 1st of October; perhaps you should be aware that the list is only issued to Telemarketing Firms quarterly. What does this mean to you? Well if you signed up after September 1st, then your name will not be on the list that goes into effect on October 1st. Instead, your name will be on the list that is issued on January 1st. Just a little clarification.
EPIC has a handy timeline of Do-Not-Call Registry events at http://epic.org/privacy/telemarketing/dnc/
"No soliticing" signs do that. A national do not call list isn't much different. It's effectively a "no soliciting" sign for your phone.
Plus I don't see many humanoid robots walking door to door, playing 5 minute advertisements at every house, and never slowing, tiring, or stopping.
And besides, telemarketting is, and always has been, harassment.
umm.. You do know that is completely false.
***BBBBBZZZZZTTTTT!!!*** The correct answer is "No -- one NO SOLICITORS notice is sufficient."
Now, there is a NO SOLICITORS notice for the phone. Deal with it.
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
They're breaking the law:
- uses technology that ensures abandonment of no more than three percent of all calls answered by a live person, measured per day per calling campaign.
- allows the telephone to ring for 15 seconds or four rings before disconnecting an unanswered call.
- plays a recorded message stating the name and telephone number of the seller on whose behalf the call was placed whenever a live sales representative is unavailable within two seconds of a live person answering the call.
- maintains records documenting adherence to the three requirements above.
Personal note: If you want to sic the FTC on abandoners, you'll need to track them down first. There is a "star" number similar to *69 that IDs any incoming phone call (including blocked, out-of-area, etc) and records it at the local telco. The list can then be obtained by a judge or other law enforcement officials. Ask your telco and/or police department for this number, and use it after receiving abandoned calls.