AP: Court Rules Against Do-Not Call Registry. A federal judge has ruled that the Federal Trade Commission overstepped its authority in creating a national do-not-call list against telemarketers. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by telemarketers who challenged the list, comprised of names of people who do not want to receive business solicitation calls. The immediate impact of Tuesday’s ruling was not clear.
If the impact is to kill the registry, freeing telemarketers to keep pestering people, there will be an outcry of some major size — and measures that could be even worse for the industry. In the end, the telemarkets will not win this war, and they should be clear on that point.
Posted by: Jim on September 24, 2003 10:02 AM
Well, I’ve never been nice to telemarketers who call. Now it’s time for open war. Turn up your headsets, kiddies!
Posted by: Joe I on September 24, 2003 10:07 AM
Well this as well as the post about California’s new spam law will just force telemarketers to move to India, Canada, and other foreign locations where US law can’t touch them.
Posted by: Jim Moran on September 24, 2003 10:08 AM
Unsolicited Telephone Calls
Unsolicited Emails
Unsolicited Search Engines
OPT-IN is the True Way!
Posted by: Malcolm Hoar on September 24, 2003 10:40 AM
It won’t be hard to render this decision moot.
Congress should act immediately to unambiguously
grant the necessary authority to the FTC.
Woe to any congresscritter that votes against it.
Posted by: Jose Guardia on September 24, 2003 10:40 AM
I use the ‘Seinfeld defense’ and it works for me: in a friendly voice, I say, “sorry, I can’t talk right now, but please leave me your phone number and I’ll call you at dinnertime”. Normally they get it. If they don’t then, back to the usual routine
Of course, this defense is completely useless if (very often in Spain, where I’m based) it’s an automated voice a recording. They never get it 🙂
Posted by: R.P. Aditya on September 24, 2003 11:12 AM
I’m not sure there is a clear victory in sight for either side — the battle will escalate, as it has for email spam, and then the telemarketers will eventually switch to using VoIP because the consumers have, and then there is no centralized strucutre for the FTC/FCC to mandate over.
We all need to get comfortable with personal, customizable content filters for admission control, be it for email, voice (caller-id already serves as a crude method) or video communications. As the price of communications goes to zero, the amount of garbage directed at us is going to increase and legislation is not going to stem the tide globally…
Posted by: Dik Shuttle on September 24, 2003 01:13 PM
I’m pretty lonely, so I’ll try to talk SEXY to ’em.. yknow – it’s alot cheaper than phone sex!
Posted by: anonymous coward on September 24, 2003 09:37 AM
It would be interesting to interview the judge in this case. Here is his number.
Chambers Page for
The Honorable Lee R. West
Senior United States District Judge
Western District of Oklahoma
U.S. Courthouse
200 N.W. Fourth St. Oklahoma City, OK 73102
Rm 3001, Courtroom 303, Third Floor
Chambers Telephone: 405-609-5140
Chambers Facsimile: 405-609-5151
Chambers Staff:
Wilma Administrative Assistant 405-609-5140
Beverly Courtroom Deputy – Case Manager 405-609-5142
Cindy Law Clerk
Jacqueline Law Clerk
Tim Court Reporter 405-609-5163