Jewish World Review

JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Telemarketers busily finding holes in new rule limiting their calls

http://www.jewishworldreview.com | (KRT) The new National Do Not Call Registry already has 30 million telephone numbers in it, but enterprising telemarketers are trying hard to keep those phones ringing.

Case in point: A Lee's Summit, Mo., sweepstakes company that offers entrants a shot at $25,000 or a car in return for their phone numbers and home and e-mail addresses. If entrants read the contest's rules, they'd learn this: "By completing this form, you agree that sponsors and co-sponsors of this sweepstakes may telephone you, even if your number is found on a Do Not Call Registry or list."

Some telemarketers are probing the exemptions in the Do Not Call Implementation Act, which, starting Oct. 1, will bar them from contacting people who have registered their phone numbers with the Federal Trade Commission.

Telemarketers the law exempts are those who represent political organizations, charities, public opinion or market surveyors, or companies with which consumers have a "business relationship."

Under the "business relationship" provision, telemarketers can call anyone who has done business with a sponsoring company by phone, Internet or in person within the past 18 months. If consumers have merely inquired about a company's product, they can be called for three months.

Otherwise, telemarketers can't call numbers listed in the registry for five years from the date the blocking took effect. That's usually three months after the number was registered.

The registry's Web site is www.donotcall.gov. Callers also can register by calling 1-888-382-1222 from phones they want blocked.

The system should block most telemarketers, according to the FTC's Web site. But Robert Bulmash, the president of Private Citizen, an Illinois-based group that litigates against unwanted callers, is skeptical. He predicts that telemarketing calls will be cut by as little as 25 percent because of telemarketers' exploitation of loopholes and other strategies.

Donate to JWR

"There's going to be a traumatic increase in nonprofit calls. Survey organizations will increase their calls," Bulmash said.

In addition, telemarketers are working hard to establish business relationships and develop lists of unblocked phone numbers.

ETL Promotions LLC, the Missouri sweepstakes company, is part of that strategy.

Its contest rules tell entrants: "Completing this form may result in a sales solicitation for water treatment, home care/indoor air-quality products, vacation travel, home security, home-based business, food service and other telephone solicitations."

Joe Gout, a spokesman for ETL, said the company's contest forms explained prominently the consequences of submitting an entry and had drawn no complaints from attorneys general in Missouri and Iowa, which maintain their own don't-call registries. Gout said ETL hadn't determined how the FTC's new program might apply to its business but promised that the company would abide by the rules.

Scott Holste, a spokesman for Missouri's Attorney General's office, said his agency had warned consumers generally against "sweepstakes that open the door to telemarketers."

In another initiative against the federal don't-call list, the New York-based Direct Marketing Association and Indianapolis-based American Teleservices Association, both trade groups that represent telemarketers, have sued in federal court to stop the new curbs. Their suits claim that the FTC lacks the jurisdiction to regulate telemarketing and the don't-call registry is an unconstitutional limit on commercial free speech.

"We're not opposed to the law in general," said Tim Searcy, the executive director of the American Teleservices Association. "We're opposed to the government regulating what kinds of calls can and cannot be made, exempting politicians and charities." His group claims the FTC's registry will cost the economy 2 million jobs.

The Direct Marketing Association has developed its own massive don't-call list, said James Conway, the association's vice president for government relations. It's based on consumers' submissions and pooled lists from five states that already have their own don't-call registries - Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maine, Wyoming and Vermont.

"We think it's confusing to the consumer" to compile so many lists, Conway said.

"When somebody gets on the federal list, they think the calls will stop," he added. "But there are all those exceptions."

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.


Comment by clicking here.

Up

© 2003, Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services