American consumers are closer to getting the federal government's help in blocking those pesky telemarketers - an eight-week, phase-in registration-by-region schedule for getting onto a national "do-not-call" registry will begin in July, the Federal Trade Commission has announced.
Those who choose to go on the list will stay on it for five years or until they change their telephone numbers, at either of which points they will have the option of re-joining the registry, the FTC said in a March 25 statement.
This is part of the plan the FTC announced last December - and President Bush signed into law earlier this month - to implement the national registry on which people can put themselves if they don't want telemarketers calling them at home or at work. As of October 2003, it will be illegal for most telemarketers to call any number listed in the registry, the FTC said, with exemptions for charities, opinion surveys, and political campaigns.
The Direct Marketing Association challenged the FTC in a January lawsuit seeking to stop the registry, saying it would restrict free speech unlawfully. But consumer groups and lawmakers - even those who might have agreed with the DMA position - said the idea was just too popular with people who've had it with telemarketing calls interrupting their mealtimes, family hours, and late nights.
Now relief is close at hand. Consumers fed up with telemarketing calls can register online or offline when it begins. The FTC said it will announce a Web registration location and a toll-free registration telephone number in June, with the three-month phase-in plan formed in anticipation of heavy registration traffic, the commission added.
Telemarketers and other sellers will have the registry available in September, when they'll be required to check their own call lists against the names and numbers at least once every 90 days, the FTC said. Violators face up to $11,000 per violation in fines.
Some spam watchers have hoped that a national "do not call" registry against telemarketers might inspire something similar when it comes to fighting spammers. The catch, as Chicago-based attorney J.P. Obenberger told avnonline.com earlier this month, is that when you give the government your telephone number or e-mail address, "you're surrendering a big chunk of your privacy."
Several individual states have do-not-call laws of their own now, including Pennsylvania, which began prosecuting violators in early February after about 2.4 million state residents joined the state’s do-not-call registry. Not only do violators face fines ($1,000 per violation; $3,000 per violation involving people 60 years and older), but repeat violators could end up being legally blocked from doing business in Pennsylvania altogether.
The Federal Communications Commission is required under the new law to report its analysis of both its own and the FTC's telemarketing rules, plus any inconsistencies in the two agencies' rules. The FCC is also required to analyze the do-not-call registry's effectiveness, tally how many people put themselves into the registry, and keep watch on progress in how the federal and state do-not-call rules are enforced.
