Plan to cut telemarketing faces delay

The Chicago Sun-Times ^ | January 8, 2003 | James Rowley

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

WASHINGTON--Lawmakers have moved to delay a Federal Trade Commission plan to curb telemarketers who bombard U.S. households with an estimated 100 million sales pitches each day.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) is opposing the FTC's request to finance the project in legislation Congress must pass this month to keep the U.S. government running until Oct. 1. Tauzin said in a letter to the FTC that he wants to convene hearings to study the proposal before acting.

The FTC has asked Congress for authority to charge telemarketers an annual fee to set up a ''do-not-call'' registry where consumers would list telephone numbers they want off-limits to telephone sales pitches.

''We are not going to give the FTC carte blanche authority to move forward without a vigorous review of the proposal,'' committee spokesman Ken Johnson said. ''We don't know how the fee would be implemented and who would foot the bill.''

FTC Chairman Timothy Muris is scheduled to brief the committee today on the proposal. FTC spokesman Cathy MacFarlane declined to comment beyond confirming Muris' scheduled appearance on Capitol Hill.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the panel's top Democrat, joined Tauzin in registering objections to the FTC request with the House Appropriations Committee. By custom, the House defers to objections to spending money lodged by a committee with jurisdiction over the program.

''There is no question that abusive telemarketing is a problem,'' the lawmakers said in a Dec. 23 letter to the appropriations panel. ''This authorization, however, may be controversial'' and needs further study by the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees the FTC, they said.

On Dec. 18, Muris announced the plan, which would require telemarketers to check the lists of don't-call numbers to program their computers not to dial the homes of consumers who don't want to receive the solicitations.

Telemarketers would be subject to $11,000 fines for each violation. Consumers would be able to register their phone numbers on a Web site or by calling a toll-free number. President Bush's spokesman issued a statement supporting the FTC's initiative the day it was announced.

Congressional hearings and further study of the proposal by Tauzin's panel might delay the FTC's plan to have the registry in operation by September.

''If the committee is attempting to delay or eliminate this program, it's very disappointing,'' said David Butler, a spokesman for Consumers Union. ''Consumers have been asking for this type of list for years. The FTC has been very careful in collecting comment opinion and examining all the pros and cons. We hope that consumers can have such a list sooner rather than later.''

Bloomberg News

[Willie Green]

Related thread: FTC acts on telemarketing

Oh wunnerful. The House must've gotten the word that the Rove/Bush Administration is desperate to keep those @#$%&$*!# minimum-wage telemarketers harassing us at home at all hours of the day and night as part of their economic "stimulus" package.

[jimt]

The FTC should be able to ban telemarketing. It's theft of service, plain and simple. The telescum use services paid for by their targets in a manner not desired by their targets. Telemarketers are one rung above politicians, which puts them below pimps and panhandlers.

[Catspaw]

There was a telemarketing boiler room in our office building for a couple months. They didn't pay their rent, they didn't pay their phone bill (around $8000 for around 2 months), and, according to the people who cleaned up the mess after they left, they trashed the office--they slept in the place, never took out the trash (which included mounds of fast food trash & rotted food), and there was evidence that they were smoking crack. They're also suspected of stuffing trash in a sink & letting the taps run all night, flooding out this floor and the floor below. They vanished without a trace over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Nice guys, those telemarketers.

[mg39]

Maybe somebody will put Tauzin's and Dingell's home phone numbers on a "Please Call Me At Dinnertime" telemarketing list.

Those a**holes!

[Focault's Pendulum]

to charge telemarketers an annual fee to set up a ''do-not-call'' registry where consumers would list telephone numbers they want off-limits to

Yep...that'll work.

[steve-b]

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin

It figures. Tauzin is the type of coin-operated political prostitute who gives the other 2% of politicians a bad name.