The Federal Communications Commission appears to have finally taken a step towards giving us the freedom to not get junk calls with the launch of its National Do Not Call Registry. It’s not perfect (for example, they warn that “long distance companies, airlines, banks and credit unions, and insurance businesses” are exempt) (can you say “lobbyists?”) but it’s a sure step in the right direction. The Wall Street Journal reports that “about 370,000 telephone numbers were registered in the program’s first 12 hours.”
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- Eradicate junk phone calls: the National Do Not Call Registry
It’s about time. The American Telemarketing Association really fought this new registry. They claimed it would harm consumers and that it infringes on First Amendment rights. (See http://www.ataconnect.org/government/comments/ftc_comments_natldnc_0417.PDF for their particularly AMUSING comments.) Well first of all, I fail to see how stopping them calling me at dinner time in any way harms me, the consumer. And calling somebody on the phone when they don’t want to be called is hardly a first amendment right.
Organizations like the American Telemarketing Association play themselves off like an independent organization looking out for all parties involved, including the consumers. Nonsense. Organizations like this are effectively a union of the companies involved, and their only interest is in those of the companies involved. In other words, we can just ignore the opinion of the ATA because it’s useless. Of *course* they’re gonna be opposed to a rule that makes them unable to do this annoying business they’ve created.
Hurray for the national registry! 🙂