The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced a proposal to create a national “do not call” registry that would enable American consumers to eliminate almost all telemarketing calls by making a single call to the government agency. The proposal is part of the FTC privacy initiative announced in early October 2001.
The FTC proposal, if approved, would make it illegal for telemarketers to call consumers who place their telephone numbers in the registry. Violations would be penalized to the tune of US$11,000 each. Billed under a “one call stops all” moniker, the proposal would exempt charity and political telemarketing calls.
If implemented, the registry would expand the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). The TSR prohibits specific telemarketing practices, requires specific disclosures by telemarketers, limits the hours that consumers can be called, sets payment restrictions for the sale of certain products, and prohibits calls to a consumer who has asked not to be called.
The ill-conceived USA Patriot Act forces the FTC to expand the TSR to cover telemarketing calls for charitable contributions which are exempt from FTC jurisdiction. The FTC does, however, have jurisdiction over for-profit telemarketers that engage in “fraudulent, deceptive, or abusive practices” on behalf of non-profit charitable organizations.
Predictably, the US$600 billion telemarketing industry was quick to criticize the FTC proposal, claiming that it would “limit commercial speech.”
Unfortunately for the telemarketers—and fortunately for the rest of us—commercial speech does not enjoy the same protections as other forms of speech. For example, here’s Federal Judge Stanley Sporkin in his ruling in Turner Broadcasting v. FCC:
“[They] have come to court not because their freedom of speech is seriously threatened but because their profits are; to dress up their complaints in First Amendment garb demeans the principles for which the First Amendment stands and the protections it was designed to afford.”
And here’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger writing for the majority in Rowan v. U.S. Post Office:
“Nothing in the Constitution compels us to listen to or to view any unwanted communication, whatever its merit…. We therefore categorically reject the argument that a vendor has the right under the Constitution or otherwise to send unwanted material into the home of another…. We repeat, the right of a mailer stops at the outer boundary of every person’s domain.”
The FTC will hold a public forum June 5 - 7, 2002 for discussion of issues raised during the comment period.
0 responses. Comments closed for this article.