About Us | Contact Us

Home › Issues › Culture › Telemarketing

Telemarketing

On January 22nd, 2002, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed major new restrictions on unwanted telemarketing calls & telemarketing fraud. The proposed rules would establish a national "do-not-call" registry for consumers, maintained by the FTC. Consumers would be able to call a toll-free phone number to place themselves on the national "do-not-call" registry.

The proposed rules would also prohibit telemarketers from blocking or subverting Caller ID systems. Currently, many telemarketers block Caller ID systems to hide their identities.

These changes to the "Telemarketing Sales Rule" are a splendid step toward eliminating unwanted telemarketing intrusions. They could help bring peace & quiet to millions of homes across the country. We strongly urge you to contact the FTC to support them.

The FTC should strengthen some of the proposed anti-telemarketing rules. Most importantly, the FTC should affirmatively require telemarketers to display Caller ID information -- instead of prohibiting them from blocking Caller ID information. Every telemarketer who invades the home should make their Caller ID information available to the public for every phone call they make.<------->What you can do to help:The FTC is asking for public comment on the proposed changes to the Telemarketing Sales Rule. You can submit comments to the FTC by sending email to tsr@ftc.gov. Please tell the FTC that you:1) Strongly support a national "do-not-call" registry; and,2) Want the FTC to affirmatively require telemarketers to transmit Caller ID information on every call – instead of merely prohibiting telemarketers from blocking Caller ID systems.

Please convey how important these rules are to you, and to keeping peace & quiet in your home. If you have any telemarketing "horror stories," you may want to tell them to the FTC staff.

The public comment period is open until March 29, 2002.

Culture

• Ad Creep
• Alcohol
• Arenas
• Banks and Credit Unions
• Books
• Buzz Marketing
• Dead Celebrities
• Gambling
• Magazines
• Media Violence
• Mobile Phones
• Movies
• Neopets
• Neuromarketing
• Newspapers
• Outer Space
• Parents' Bill of Rights
• PBS
• Privacy
• Product Placement
• Psychology
• Public Spaces
• Radio
• Search Engines
• Sports
• Telemarketing
• Television
• Video Games