Carolyn
(However, I don't consider this thread to be a duplicate. There is quite a bit more information in the article)
FROM:OLADOKUN DANIELS #24 KOFO ABAYOMI STREET VICTORIA ISLAND LAGOS-NIGERIA
Dear Sir,
RE: BUSINESS PROPOSAL - STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. I am OLADOKUN DANIELS,Chairman of the Contract Review Panel that was recently inaugurated by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to review the activities of past military government with particular reference to contracts awarded by all ministries between.......
I'll post the rest of the message for a million dollars! Or maybe a six pack.
1) They are overbroad -- they do not just apply to "telemarketers" (who I would define as being companies making massive numbers of cold calls at random), but also to ANY business calling ANY residence for ANY reason.
2) To be in compliance, ANY business, no matter how small, that wishes to call ANY residential number ANYWHERE in the US must pay over SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR for access to the Do-Not-Call registry, even if they only need to look up an occasional number now and then; free look-up access is provided only for five area codes, which is often not enough to cover an entire state, and sometimes not even an entire metro area.
The bottom line is that these regulations are NOT "anti-telemarketer" -- the telemarketing firms will consider $7K per year to be small change, and it will be a relatively simple programming change to incorporate the do-not-call registry into their already-computerized systems. What these regulations REALLY are is "ANTI-SMALL-BUSINESS" -- most of us who are in or run small, non-telemarketing businesses cannot possibly afford this $7K per year, nor can we afford an $11K penalty. Thus, if the FTC regulations were to stand, this would effectively limit just about ALL small businesses to calling ONLY residences within a five-zip-code area. I call that "restraint of trade" -- the exact opposite of what the FTC has been tasked to do.
I hate telemarketing calls as much as anyone else. But there's got to be a better way to do this.
It culls out lousy prospects like ME.
Obviously if a telemarketer calls me, they are wasting their time.
Better to move on to some brain dead idiot who is so lonely they will talk to anybody.
I've seen these people in front of a congressional committee whining about how they got taken for the THIRD time, "cause they thought they had just got the "deal of the century".
Amazingly, I got called out of the shower three times in two weeks.
C'mon people, the ones who opt not to be bothered have that right!
This is one of the very few things the government has gotten right.
You folks who don't value your privacy deserve to be harrassed!