"Do Not Call" Means Poorest May Lose Jobs

Cato Institute ^ | various | Various

[LowCountryJoe]

According to The Los Angeles Times, "Last summer, the federal government announced a national registry for consumers who want to block telemarketers from calling them. Americans rushed to sign up.

"Of the nation's 166 million residential numbers, 51 million are now off-limits to telemarketers. Despite ongoing court challenges, the list went into effect last month.

"The crackdown might be welcomed by consumers, but not by telemarketers like Millican, many of whom survive on the economic fringe. The nation has lost 2.6 million jobs in two years, and the 'do not call' list is expected to put hundreds of thousands more people out of work."

In "Like It Or Not, Free Speech Protects Telemarketers, Too", Cato's Robert Levy, senior fellow in constitutional studies, argues that "when government sets the rules, it must not discriminate based on the content of the calls. That's what the First Amendment means. Free speech is not subject to plebiscite, no matter how many millions sign up for no-call. [Supreme Court] Justice William Brennan got it right: 'If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.'"

[gawatchman]

When one person does not respect, and tramples on the freedom of another, it is the goverment's responsibility to step in and do something about it. My freedom is being taken away everytime a telemarketer rings my house because I have to stop what I am doing while in the privacy of my own home just to be annoyed, and give them my full attention for however long I am kept on the phone. Whether it be the FCC, or another branch of the government, it is time for them to put a stop to this insufferable invasion called telemarketing.

[steve-b]

you give up noise free living when you moved next to me

Nope. If you insist on disturbing the peace by making noise, you will be visited by the police. If you continue, you will eventually wind up in jail. This is as it should be.

[BSunday]

There is also such a thing as my freedom not to listen to your dumb @$$. If I called you out of the blue, whenever the desire struck me, and started talking about whatever I felt like talking about, you would sue me for harrassment and win.

[BSunday]

Once inside, my house becomes a dictatorship

Believe it or not, I actually had to explain this to my teenage daughter the other day.

[BSunday]

I started trying a new trick I learned on FR and it works pretty good. I just ask them to hold on a minute, then i put the phone down, since they are paying for the call. I only got to try it once before the list came into effect.

[BSunday]

When they call you they don't set foot on, in or near your property

Oh yes they do. Their voices are IN the property which amounts to trespassing.

[palmer]

Oh yes they do. Their voices are IN the property which amounts to trespassing.

Since Held_to_Ransom was banned, I guess I'll answer for him. Sound waves can be regulated just as radio waves are if they interfere with something inside your property (or outside). The FCC would decline to regulate in your case because you are not providing a service that is being interfered with. Even if you did your outgoing calls would not be impacted. Even if they were, there are numerous work-arounds to avoid the need to regulate.

But the bottom line is spectrum is not property, therefore this isn't trespass.

[NittanyLion]

Still trying to argue the impossible, I see.

LOL.

[palmer]

It's trespassing. No, it's disturbing the peace. Well, which is it?

[BSunday]

But the bottom line is spectrum is not property

That is pretty much the same thing as saying that air is not property, which I agree with, but has nothing to do with the issue because it's not the medium, it's the place the medium ends up. The spectrum is not propery, but my telephone is my property, and if I don't want your voice in it, then you are "verbally trespassing". But there are more creative ways to deal with telemarketers than with more legislation.

[Jeff Gordon]

In a related story, rapists are suing to overturn laws that interfer with their right of sex-upon-demand.

[LowCountryJoe]

Jeff Gordon wrote: "In a related story, rapists are suing to overturn laws that interfer with their right of sex-upon-demand."

The same big government that wants to protect you from yourself and those greedy, intrusive solicitors is the same big government that wants you to be dependant on it for your own security; hence the hostility directed at the 2nd amendment and a societal fear of guns.

Did you know that Eleanor Roosevelt openly carried a revolver? A liberal female icon that was proud to carry. We've come a long way baby! Now, many conservatives fear guns.

Let's just keep asking the government to do more for us!

[Poohbah]

SKYBIRD SKYBIRD DO NOT ANSWER

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[Poohbah]

The only reason that the government is getting involved is that the telemarketers refused to police themselves, and actively worked to defeat individual efforts to get them to cease and desist from their offensive actions.

[palmer]

I would call it arguing with the impossible.

[Jeff Gordon]

Now, many conservatives fear guns.

If you will agree to let us shoot telemarketers, I will agree to repeal the "Do not call" law.

[Poohbah]

Bullets don't go through phone wires very well. Better to have remote-detonated collars on the telemarketers that can be command-detonated through punching in *99 when the annoying caller is into his spiel.

[Jeff Gordon]

Bullets don't go through phone wires very well.

I agree. The real payback for their invasion of privacy is in the thrill of the hunt. Track 'em down and wake 'em up in the middle of the night.

[LowCountryJoe]

Jeff 'Speed Racer' Gorden wrote: "If you will agree to let us shoot telemarketers, I will agree to repeal the "Do not call" law."

If it is our call to make, sure, agreed. handshake?

[Cultural Jihad]

Libertarians are always opposed to the rights of people to decide what kind of a society they are to live in.