Support FTC effort to stop unwanted telemarketing calls

[Gary Ruskin]

Commercial Alert			January 23, 2002

Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed major new
restrictions on unwanted telemarketing calls & telemarketing fraud.  The
proposed rules would establish a national "do-not-call" registry for
consumers, maintained by the FTC.  Consumers would be able to call a
toll-free phone number to place themselves on the national "do-not-call"
registry.

The proposed rules would also prohibit telemarketers from blocking or
subverting Caller ID systems.  Currently, many telemarketers block
Caller ID systems to hide their identities.

These changes to the "Telemarketing Sales Rule" are a splendid step
toward eliminating unwanted telemarketing intrusions.  They could help
bring peace & quiet to millions of homes across the country.  We
strongly urge you to contact the FTC to support them.   

The anti-telemarketing rules won't be easy to win.  "Already the Direct
Marketing Association has already signaled its strong opposition [to the
proposed rules]," the Washington Post reported yesterday.  The Direct
Marketing Association & the anti-privacy lobby have some of the best
lobbyists in Washington; they will likely do what they can to stop these
proposed rules.

The FTC should strengthen some of the proposed anti-telemarketing
rules.  Most importantly, the FTC should affirmatively require
telemarketers to display Caller ID information -- instead of prohibiting
them from blocking Caller ID information.  This proposal is much
stronger, and is identical to a provision in the "Know Your Caller Act
of 2001," which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in
December (H. R. 90).  Every telemarketer who invades the home should
make their Caller ID information available to the public for every phone
call they make.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
The FTC is asking for public comment on the proposed changes to the
Telemarketing Sales Rule.  You can submit comments to the FTC by sending
email to <tsr@ftc.gov>.   Please tell the FTC that you:
1) Strongly support a national "do-not-call" registry;
2) Want the FTC to affirmatively require telemarketers to transmit
Caller ID information on every call – instead of merely prohibiting
telemarketers from blocking Caller ID systems.

Please convey how important these anti-telemarketing rules are to you,
and to keeping peace & quiet in your home.  If you have any
telemarketing "horror stories," you may want to tell them to the FTC
staff.

The public comment period is open until March 29, 2002.

BACKGROUND:
The Federal Trade Commission's web page on the proposed changes to the
Telemarketing Sales Rule is at:
<http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/01/donotcall.htm>

Commercial Alert's web page on telemarketing is at:
<http://www.commercialalert.org/telemarketing/index.html>.

Following is today's Associated Press article on the FTC action.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23454-2002Jan23.html

Rules Aim to Curb Telemarketers 
By David Ho

WASHINGTON –– Whenever call waiting beeped on Peg Keeley's phone, she
knew it was another sales pitch.

Keeley, 64, said the calls from telemarketers got so bad she had to
disconnect call waiting just to have an uninterrupted phone
conversation.

"I didn't know how to do away with them," she said.

The retired government worker from Springfield, Ill., gets as many as
four telemarketing calls a day. She said things have gotten better
without call waiting because "if I'm on the phone at least they can't
get through to me."

Inspired by many similar tales of aggravation, the Federal Trade
Commission said Tuesday it wants to create a national "do not call"
registry, strengthening existing telemarketing rules that forbid
late-night calls and deceptive sales tactics.

Current rules require specific telemarketers to obey when consumers ask
to be put on a "do not call" list.

The new proposal would let consumers call one toll-free number to stop
most telemarketing calls made from outside a consumer's state, said
Howard Beales, the FTC's director of consumer protection. Consumers
could choose to allow calls from certain companies or charities.

Telemarketers would have to update their no-call lists monthly from the
national list, which would cost the agency between $4 million and $6
million in the first year. Telemarketers who call people on the list
could be fined up to $11,000 for each violation.

The FTC plans public hearings in June on the registry and other proposed
telemarketing regulations, such as preventing telemarketers from hiding
their identities from consumers' caller ID boxes. Agency commissioners
could vote on the changes as soon as a year from now.

Telemarketers say a national registry isn't needed.

H. Robert Wientzen, president of the Direct Marketing Association, said
people who do not want to be called can request that their names be
added to his group's list, which has 4.1 million names. He said many
telemarketers, including those calling from within states, participate
in the service and abide by the list.

"The government may be overstepping its boundaries by spending taxpayer
dollars to limit communication," Wientzen said. He said the proposed
rules would hurt the industry, driving companies out of the country to
avoid the regulations.

Beales said the national registry would apply to companies that aren't
part of the association.

More than 25 states already have legislation requiring "do not call"
lists, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The
FTC would work with them to ensure the national list and local lists
work together, Beales said.

Getting off telemarketer lists hasn't been easy for Alanna Dunn, 39, who
receives up to four calls a day at her home in Ceres, Calif. – sales
pitches pushing everything from cell phones to investments in Texas oil
wells. One group selling construction materials wouldn't take no for an
answer.

"When I asked, 'Can you please take my name off your mailing and calling
list?' they said, 'Sure, your name will be put on a list, but you'll be
called every 10 minutes,'" Dunn said. Abusive and harassing calls
followed, and Dunn had to file a police report and have the phone calls
traced.

"For the most part, people are very, very kind, but a lot of them are
wise," she said. "When you start to say, 'Please take me off your ...,'
you get it half out and they hang up."

<-----article ends here----->

Commercial Alert's mission is to keep the commercial culture within its
proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting
the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and
democracy.  Commercial Alert's website is at
<http://www.commercialalert.org>.

Commercial Alert's materials are distributed electronically via our
mailing list <commercial-alert@lists.essential.org>. To subscribe, send
the word "subscribe" to <alert@essential.org>, or go to
<http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/commercial-alert>.

To join Commercial Alert, go to:
<https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2404-0|1236-0>.

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
-- 
Gary Ruskin | gary@essential.org 
Commercial Alert | http://www.commercialalert.org
Congressional Accountability Project | http://www.congressproject.org
phone: 503.235.8012 | fax: 503.235.5073

To subscribe to Commercial Alert's email list, send the message 
"subscribe" to <alert@essential.org>.