Dear Sir or Madam:

Ideally, I would like the FTC to forbid telemarketing completely. Realistically, that probably won't happen. I do suggest the following reforms:

1. Telemarketing should be restricted to normal business hours - 9 to 5, Monday through Friday.

2. Telemarketing should be forbidden to use computerized dialing. In this set-up a telemarketer comes on line only when there is an answer to the number the computer has dialed. Sometimes all available telemarketers are busy and there is no one comes on the line when you answer. This is most galling. In addition, it is quite frightening for those who may not understand this set-up. You may think your phone is malfunctioning, or, worse, that you are getting harrassing phone calls.

3. Businesses should be forbidden from selling phone numbers they collect to telemarketers or other companies.

Because of its intrusiveness into private home life, telemarketing is different from all other forms of advertising. I do not object to junk mail, advertising in newspapers and magazines, or even on many billboards. With these, I can choose when and how much of it I choose to examine. Even radio and television advertising is tolerable. After all, I still have the choice of turning off the radio or TV. None of this holds true with telemarketing. Even if I firmly and abruptly hang up on the telemarketer, which I do, the interruption into my life cannot be undone. Perhaps I was playing my guitar and right in the the groove and it cannot be found again. Perhaps something I was cooking is ruined because my attention was diverted by the telephone.

Telemarketing is a blight and a weed in our society. It should not be tolerated.

Matthias Manz