Comment Number: OL-103473
Received: 11/28/2004 11:21:37 AM
Organization:
Commenter: J Ham
State: CA
Subject: Trade Regulation Rule on Telemarketing Sales
Title: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment
CFR Citation: 16 CFR Part 310
No Attachments

Comments:

It's time to fully define advertiser's rights as only applying to "opt-in" voluntary media where the "target" (consumer) has willingly "plugged in" to the advertisement through the act of turning on a TV or Radio, going to a movie, looking out the car window on a drive, etc. The right of a consumer to privacy in their own home should be paramount here. When the phone rings, it should be my friends or family or kid's soccer coach at the other end - not some corporation interrupting my dinner trying to sell me an extended warranty on a product I purchased from them on credit (an existing business relationship). It is really absurd that this type of behavior would be allowed. In fact, while thinking about this issue: who didn't have at least 20 calls this last election season that turned out to be a recorded message from some candidate or the other? This should not be allowed either. I'm all for allowing the ads and other garbage on television, radio, etc. due to the fact that these media are opt-in (you had to turn the thing on, and you knew that you would get advertisements as part of the deal). However, unless you can setup additional controls like a mandatory different ring tone for ads or a deal where if you listen to the full ad you are paid $0.25 or something then calling people in the privacy of their own homes needs to be totally and completely restricted. If I am going to get a pre-recorded message on my phone, it had better be a "shelter in place" call or the like from the city emergency warning system. Let's talk less about the "rights of advertisers" (these are companies, not people!) and more about the rights of the indidual consumers (actual people!) who have to deal with these advertisers calling them.