| Comment Number: | OL-101581 |
| Received: | 11/27/2004 6:55:25 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | John Obenauer |
| State: | MS |
| Subject: | Trade Regulation Rule on Telemarketing Sales |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 310 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
Dear FTC, I ask that you reject the proposed amendment to the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The frustration of citizens being continually harassed in their own homes by telemarketers led to the creation of the Do Not Call list in the first place. Making a loophole that telephone solicitors could instead call us with pre-recorded messages is even more insulting than a human solicitor calling. Not only do these companies want to intrude on the brief personal time I have with my family in the evenings, but they don't even want to waste their own time calling me! They will happily automate calls to my home, so that I am just as harassed as before the Do Not Call list, but now the solicitors save money by having machines call me instead of people. Confining this proposed loophole to companies with which I have an "established business relationship" is virtually no protection for me at all. This allows my existing long distance company, cell phone company, credit card company, cable company (and so on) to call me daily trying to sell me additional services that I've already decided against. It also allows any past company I've ever had any business with to contact me, since I once had an "established business relationship" with them. The idea for a Do Not Call list was very popular with voters nationwide because so many people consider telemarketing a nuisance. This proposed amendment effectively removes the protection of the Do Not Call list. You would be violating the trust of the people who provided you their personal information for the explicit purpose of protecting them from telemarketers.