FTC Rules Outlawing Robocalls Go Into Effect Next Week 277
coondoggie writes "Nearly a year after announcing the plan, new Federal Trade Commission
rules prohibiting most robocalls are set to take effect Tuesday, Sept. 1. With the rules, prerecorded commercial telemarketing robocalls will be prohibited, unless the telemarketer has obtained permission in writing from consumers who want to receive such calls. Hopefully the rules will go a long way to helping consumers eat dinner in peace without being interrupted by amazingly annoying telemarketer blather or in this case prerecorded blather. The requirement is part of amendments to the agency's Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) that were announced a year ago. After September 1, sellers and telemarketers who transmit prerecorded messages to consumers who have not agreed in writing to accept such messages will face penalties of up to $16,000 per call."
Re:Political robocalls too? (Score:5, Informative)
However for those who have called on the FTC to help eliminate the other phone scourge - political robocalls - the new rules will not help. Calls from political campaigns are considered protected speech the FTC said. Ultimately consumers may get some help from state legislatures as many are regulating or looking to pass laws for more control over automated or robocall computer-generated phone-calling campaigns. One group, the National Political Do Not Contact Registry [stoppoliticalcalls.org] is campaigning to outlaw political robocalling altogether.
Fine print (Score:5, Informative)
Ah.
You can expect the "permission" to be buried in the fine print of phone contracts, software licenses, and the like. And be sure to remember to uncheck that "share your information with third parties" box.
Do Not Call Has Worked Perfectely For Me (Score:3, Informative)
"There's already a "Do not call" mechanism that's ignored"
I haven't gotten a single call on my mail line since the day I put it on the Do Not Call List.
Recently I got another number and couldn't figure out why I was suddenly getting unsolicited calls. Then I remembered the DNC List and once again haven't gotten a single unwanted call.
It is even worse than that.... (Score:3, Informative)
This appears to me that it will weaken the existing prohibition against this practice by providing the "in writing" loophole. Calling without a real person on the other end was already illegal except in limited circumstances due to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) [gpo.gov]
[...]
(1) Prohibitions
It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States, or
any person outside the United States if the recipient is within the
United States--
[...]
(B) to initiate any telephone call to any residential
telephone line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to
deliver a message without the prior express consent of the
called party, unless the call is initiated for emergency
purposes or is exempted by rule or order by the Commission under
paragraph (2)(B);
[...]
How much do you want to bet that consent to robo-calls will quickly be added to the boiler plate in all sorts of contracts as well as privacy policies and TOS notices.
If it doesn't show up in everybody's mail box as part of a change to their credit cards' privacy policies, that might actually surprise me.
-Mysteryvortex
Re:is there still a so-called non-profit loophole? (Score:3, Informative)
It is kind of a pain in the ass to set up and you need some specialized hardware (FXO/FXS card or a SIP gateway such as the Linksis one you can get for $99) It's well worth it if you want to take control of your phone line, though.
Re:Won't matter (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Won't matter (Score:4, Informative)
Not true. The real problem is that enough people don't complain and their is a level of apathy involved.
The FCC and Attorney Generals go after the companies providing the products being sold (more specifically those who profit) and not the call centers. When you get one of these calls you need to listen to them. Ask them questions about their products. What is the name of the product? It's manufacturer? Try to get some information.
Information is the real weapon. Once you call the FCC to complain you will be able to provide them with what they need to successfully identify the company and levy fines against them.
There is no getting around the DNC regardless of the location. It's just that not enough people are cooperating with the FCC to hurt them enough.
Re:Won't matter (Score:3, Informative)
The product name and manufacturer's name are not necessarily the information they need. Most manufacturer's don't distribute their products themselves so it won't be them hiring the telemarketers. Now they should have a list of distributors for the FCC to investigate. Also the companies can be just importing the stuff. Now you could block that company from importing but they would just start another.
It's a no win battle as long as consumers continue to buy from telemarkers and spammers. They wouldn't do it if there was no money involved.
So the real problem isn't consumer apathy but consumer purchasing.
Re:Political robocalls too? (Score:3, Informative)
Your attitude just encourages joe-jobbing though. I think there was some of that in this last election, with robocallers calling people 10 times in a night, claiming to be for Obama.
Re:Political robocalls too? (Score:2, Informative)
And I for a while I was getting 8-9 a day claiming to be from McCain, all at odd hours, on my cellphone. Both sides were doing it.
Re:Do Not Call Has Worked Perfectely For Me (Score:3, Informative)
What will happen is that the bank which issued your credit car will eat the charge and you will never hear anything more of it. In fact, even if they do track down the perps, they won't share the information with you. They tend to be really tight-lipped about anything like that.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Political robocalls too? (Score:4, Informative)
They enabled "disconnect on hangup" on your line. If you have a burglar alarm installed that uses your phone line, the alarm company will arrange for the same feature.
Traditionally, POTS lines aren't disconnected until both sides go on-hook. With disconnect on hangup, the line is disconnected when one side goes on-hook, though it may take up to 10 seconds.
Re:Political robocalls too? (Score:3, Informative)
I'm glad you mentioned range voting. I Googled it and found this site: http://rangevoting.org/ [rangevoting.org]
This, to me, is the single dumbest thing about our democracy: that our current voting system makes you vote for who you can tolerate and think can win, as opposed to who you actually like.
I encourage everyone to visit the link above to read about a better voting system.