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FTC Rules Outlawing Robocalls Go Into Effect Next Week

Posted by timothy on from the not-a-moment-too-soon dept.

coondoggie writes "Nearly a year after announcing the plan, new Federal Trade Commission rules prohibiting most robocalls are set to take effect Tuesday, Sept. 1. With the rules, prerecorded commercial telemarketing robocalls will be prohibited, unless the telemarketer has obtained permission in writing from consumers who want to receive such calls. Hopefully the rules will go a long way to helping consumers eat dinner in peace without being interrupted by amazingly annoying telemarketer blather or in this case prerecorded blather. The requirement is part of amendments to the agency's Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) that were announced a year ago. After September 1, sellers and telemarketers who transmit prerecorded messages to consumers who have not agreed in writing to accept such messages will face penalties of up to $16,000 per call."

3 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. Political robocalls too? by patmandu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...or did they make sure to keep that loophole in there for themselves again...

    1. Re:Political robocalls too? by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They left the loophole open. "Call from political candidates are considered protected speech". Really, what did you expect?

      system is broken. time for overhaul.

      free speech is when I ask you a question and you are allowed to answer and not fear for your life.

      free speech is NOT the right to call me and force some stupid idea down my throat.

      there IS a difference and its not subtle, either.

      in no reasoning person's mind could a robocall, or ANY kind of political call, be called 'protected'.

      if that's protected, I should be able to call a judge on his personal phone line and complain about his judgements. call my congresscritters on their personal lines and complain and 'sell' them on my way of doing things.

      they want access to us? give us parity and we'll talk. so to speak.

      no? not going to work that way?

      time to redo the system. maybe from scratch, if that's what it takes.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    2. Re:Political robocalls too? by blackraven14250 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Don't be embarrassed for not getting politics shoved down your throat. You can hang up on a robot, and they wouldn't even know.

      I think this is the wrong way to go about this. They should require every line used for marketing calls to show up on caller ID as "Marketing", and every call for political reasons to show up as "Political". Then people don't have to answer at all. You can add in a registry to keep people from calling, or you can require phone companies to block numbers with that name on the ID to a given number if you really want. The phone company idea would be my preference, as it's really easy to block numbers on our AT&T wireless lines on the net, and there should be no reason you can't do it on a land line just as easily.