Posted on 09/24/2003 1:08:49 PM PDT by scab4faa
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A federal judge has ruled that the Federal Trade Commission overstepped its authority in creating the national ``do-not-call'' list against telemarketers.
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by telemarketers who challenged the list of 50.6 million numbers submitted by people who do not want to receive business solicitation calls.
The immediate impact of Tuesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Lee R. West was not clear. He did not issue an order directing an action by the FTC. The list was to go into effect Oct. 1.
West said the main issue in the case was ``whether the FTC had the authority to promulgate a national do-not-call registry. The court finds it did not.''
In 1994, Congress enacted the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act that directed the FTC to ``prescribe rules prohibiting deceptive ... and other abusive telemarketing acts.''
But the judge said Congress gave the Federal Communications Commission, not the FTC, the authority to operate ``a single national database to compile a list of telephone numbers of residential subscribers who object to receiving telephone solicitations.''
The FTC said the Omnibus Appropriations Act, signed by President Bush in February, authorizes the FTC to ``implement and enforce the do-not-call provisions of the Telemarketing Sales Rule.''
``This decision is clearly incorrect,'' FTC chairman Timothy Muris said Wednesday. ``We will seek every recourse to give American consumers a choice to stop unwanted telemarketing calls.''
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said they were confident the ruling would be overturned and that they believe Congress gave the FTC authority to operate the registry.
``We will continue to monitor the situation and will take whatever legislative action is necessary to ensure consumers can stop intrusive calls from unwanted telemarketers,'' they said in a joint statement.
Direct Marketing Association, one of the plaintiffs, said it was happy with the ruling, even though it ``acknowledges the wishes of millions of U.S. consumers who have expressed their preferences not to receive telephone-marketing solicitations - as evidenced by the millions of phone numbers registered on the FTC list.''
The DMA, a nonprofit trade organization representing 5,000 U.S. companies, said it will work with its attorneys, the FTC and the FCC during the next few days to evaluate what the ruling will mean for consumers and businesses.
The telemarketing industry estimates the do-not-call list could cut its business in half, costing it up to $50 billion in sales each year. Telemarketers would have to check the list every three months to see who doesn't want to be called. Those who call listed people could be fined up to $11,000 for each violation.
The lawsuit was filed by U.S. Security, Chartered Benefit Services Inc., Global Contact Services Inc., InfoCision Management Corp. and Direct Marketing Association Inc.
A similar lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Denver, where the trade group American Teleservices Association and two telemarketing companies sued in January to keep the FTC from starting the do-not-call program.
In the Denver case, the plaintiffs said the list would violate telemarketers' constitutional rights and exceed the FTC's authority. The FTC argued that the list presented no serious constitutional problems and was created under congressional authority in response to concerns about intrusions into consumers' privacy.
Plaintiffs in the Denver case are Mainstream Marketing Services Inc. of Boulder, Colo., and TMG Marketing Inc., a Nebraska company that operates from Denver.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.netscape.cnn.com ...
This is as untrue as no one has the right to ring your doorbell without your consent
As much as I dislike telemarketing calls, they are,for the most part, honest, working people just trying to make a living under very hostile working conditions. The five seconds it takes me to tell them I'm not interested is a small price to pay to keep them out of the welfare line.
Are you this tough when a Jehova Witness or someone selling magazines knocks on your door? Or are you only like that when you don't have to face them?
(However, I don't consider this thread to be a duplicate. There is quite a bit more information in the article)
But why shouldn't I have the ability to control who calls me?
THe phone company has a variety of phone products to stop solicitors. If you haven't chewed THEIR heads off already, I'm surprised they haven't told you. Qwest is really good at this, and I never get calls anymore, when it used to be a real problem.
If you have a sign posted on your door reading "NO PEDDLERS OR SOLICITORS", then any peddler or solicitor who rings your doorbell is trespassing.
Since the national Do Not Call list signup period began, I've been gettng a lot more calls from telemarketers than before, most of them computer-generated recordings that, unlike the starving-artist types you defend, are not impressed by whatever I might yell back at them or by any instruction to "put me on your do not call list".
Furthermore, they have started to leave messages on my machine, which never happened in the past. If I've been out of the house for the day I have come home to as many as eight of their messages stacked up on my machine. It's as though they have decalred war on the consumer and are trying to get back at us by blowing out the phones before this list goes into operation.
Okay, let's save ourselves the complexity of setting up a DNC list. Let's ban telemarketing in all forms, by anyone, under any circumstances whatever.
There's no comparison. You can see who's at your door and can refuse to answer the bell.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.