FTC all but bans robocalls

WASHINGTON--The Federal Trade Commission essentially banned robocalls Tuesday--creating new rules that telemarketers may only send the prerecorded sales pitches to people who actually want to receive them.

The FTC amended its Telemarketing Sales Rule after reviewing more than 14,000 comments made since October 2006, when proposed amendments were published for public consideration.

There are two stages to the change: By December 2008, robocalls will be required to include an automated key-press or voice-activated opt-out. Beginning September 2009, telemarketers won't be able to send out any robocalls without "the prior express written agreement of the recipient to receive such calls."

There are no exceptions for telemarketers to send robocalls to customers with whom they have an "established business relationship," as an earlier policy allowed, but there are some exceptions. Health care-related calls subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 are still allowed, as are charitable fundraising robocalls made to members of the nonprofit charitable organization for which the call is placed, or to people who previously donated to it. The fundraising calls must still include an automated opt-out, however.

The strict limits won't stop robocalls from political campaigns, either."Political calls are not placed for the purpose of inducing purchases of goods or services, and therefore are not 'telemarketing' within the meaning of the TSR," the FTC notes in a footnote of the amendment.

Congress made some attempts this year to address annoying prerecorded political phone messages. The Robocall Privacy Act of 2008, introduced in both the House and Senate earlier this year, would put a number of limits on robocalls from political campaigns, including the number of calls made to a house in one day and the hours such calls can be made.

[humanssssss]

Political campaigns are becoming more and more expensive. And each one of these calls ask for political donation. So based on FTC logic, if I was to announce myself to run for mayor, senator, or governor, I have the right to call people and not follow the same standard that commercial and other guys have to follow?

[sanenazok]

If you entered politics you wouldn't be selling a product or service but rather yourself! So there, regular commercial limits do not apply.

[repete_7]

Thank God. If I get one more call about renewing my car's warranty, I will scream. The car has over 150,000 miles on it, yeah, like it's under warranty.

[nelzp0929]

It's a scam and this law will do nothing to prevent getting phishing calls like that.

[baswwe]

they won't worry. you'll still get them on your cellphone.
they have no concern. is there anyway to track these fools down?

[catbutt5]

Wow, a small victory for the little guy.

Now could someone go after the US Postal Service for selling our addresses to advertisers? Where's the opt out in that plan?
Don't believe me? Go rent a PO Box of any size, don't give out the address to anybody and then sit back and watch the junk mail start rolling in.

When I asked the Post Office to stop selling my address, they had the audacity to tell me they "...make a lot of money doing this." Really? Well then, I guess that makes it O.K.

[michaelo1966]

Groovy, but I don't understand why they didn't reverse the implementations; banning first then adding an opt-out later (and why December -- seems like they should be able to start a ban next week). Since just not calling is easier to implement than an opt-out option seems like they should have banned ASAP then given them more time to implement the opt-out and -- assuming people opt-in by written, signed mail that's entirely unattached to any other contract for that particular purpose (no fine print in an unrelated agreement) -- then added the opt-out feature.

[Seaspray0]

The only instance I have seen robocall useful: "This automated message is to inform you that your order is ready for pickup at..." Alot of pharmacies have automated message like this one and they are useful. I hope our lawmakers do not mistakenly make these kinds of automated message illegal.

[Pikachu62]

Don't forget you OPT IN every time you fill out a drawing form to win a new car at the mall.

[stoppoliticalcalls]

Bummer about political calls.

We are doing something about it. The National Political Do Not Contact Registry is a non-profit org working to create a political do not call list and to advocate for legislation like Sen. Feinstein's Robocall Privacy Act (I testified for her at the US Senate).

These calls are an epidemic and are invading the privacy of All American Voters.

Our members are taking a stand and saying enough is enough at the National Political Do Not Contact Registry at StopPoliticalCalls.org.

Here is a quote from a member this morning:

"I find it very frustrating... I tend to get calls at the WORST time. I have a one year old daughter, and it NEVER fails that the phone will ring when I put her down for a nap or for bed. Also my vote is PRIVATE... so who do you think you are calling with a survey to find out who I am voting for!!! Stop calling me."

Regards,

Shaun Dakin
CEO and Founder
http://www.stoppoliticalcalls.org

[skrubol]

I'm sorta in your boat. My car is just getting out of warranty, and all of a sudden I start getting pelted by calls from at least 2 companies. Funny thing about them is that I probably received about 10 "this will be your last call" calls within a week.
Surprisingly, I called one of the numbers back, and it answered (with a recording of course,) and gave me the option to opt out. The volume dropped by more than half at that point, and then I actually answered one earlier this week (the number looked familiar,) and pressed the option to opt out, and haven't heard back yet.
I don't think these are phishing, just telemarketing at it's worst.