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Do Not Call List Under Attack
smooth wombat writes "Do Not Call. Those words are music to millions of Americans who have signed up for the list so they're not bothered by telemarketers. Not content to let things as they are telemarketers are now lobbying the FCC to have state laws which regulate the practice overturned. In April an ad-hoc group of firms ranging from the Direct Marketing Association to the National Children's Cancer Society filed a joint petition asking the FCC to declare that it has 'exclusive jurisdiction over interstate telemarketing calls.' The issue revolves around some states whose Do Not Call laws are more strict than Federal law and which prohibit telemarketers from calling anyone on a Do Not Call, regardless of an existing business relationship." Update: 07/21 18:42 GMT by Z : Official EPIC page, with contact info and background.
"In order to get access to the State's DNC list we have to purchase it for the entire state. To make matters worse, this state has a very different set of rules."
Making it to difficult to even be a "legitimate" telemarketer (if ever there was an oxymoron...)? Then all I can say is "good." The world doesn't owe you a living. If these people want you to call, perhaps you should set up a "Call Me" white list.
"On a federal level, you are allowed to call customers you formerly did business with for 18 months after the termination of the business relationship. Not so in this other state. Apparently you aren't allowed to call even the day after the relationship ends. The federal system actually allows the people who get called some recourse. The state system I have to deal with makes it very clear in their fine print that you are allowed a certain amount of accidental calls."
It's quite simple, then: in the case of two overlapping laws, the stricter of the two is enforced, because both laws have to be obeyed. In the former "business relationship" example, the stricter state practice would be in force. For the "accidental call," the federal law. It is still possible to obey both laws so there is no need for one to override the other.
"You want to call people of that state, you buy the list, which costs more annually than the entire federal list, for what that's worth."
So the people of that state have put a higher price tag on their privacy than has the aggregate nation as a whole. Deal with it.
"The federal list makes sense, and really does eliminate any reason for states to keep their own lists,"
You're still able to say that after talking about the "existing business relationship" loophole? How do you sleep at night?