| Comment Number: | OL-107969 |
| Received: | 12/7/2004 3:29:12 PM |
| Organization: | Attorney at Law |
| Commenter: | Myra Mitzman |
| 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:
I am against any change to the do not call legislation that provides additional exceptions to telemarketers. The purpose of the do not call list, as I understand it, is to protect my privacy and allow me to opt out of receiving annoying telemarketing calls. I do not see how receiving an unsolicited prerecorded call is any less intrusive or bothersome than receiving a live call. I do not believe that direct, unsolicited telemarketing of those individuals who have specifically opted out is a proper means of advertising, or that it serves any beneficial public purpose. Between print advertising, junk mail, SPAM and television and radio advertising, consumers are already bombarded with information--most of it unwanted--about available products and services. Individual members of the public do not need to be phoned by prerecorded telemarketers after they have specifically requested that they NOT be phoned by placing their telephone numbers on the national do not call list. As a self-employed attorney who bills by the hour, I am particularly annoyed by unsolicited calls that waste my limited time during the workday. I estimate that I receive anywhere from one to five unsolicited telemarketing calls per day on my business lines, despite placing those numbers on the do not call list. This results in a loss of time and productivity of anywhere from a few minutes to close to an hour per day. Although the number of calls on my home phone has decreased greatly since the do not call list was implemented, I still receive one or two calls per week on average. I find these calls very annoying as they always seem to come during dinnertime or even after we have gone to bed. It seems that we as citizens have lost any semblance of a zone of privacy or personal space, as we are exposed to a constant onslaught of junk mail, SPAM and telephone calls. The do not call list was a step in the right direction. I urge the FTC not to succumb to pressure by the telemarketing industry but instead to protect the ever dwindling rights of citizens to a degree of peace and privacy in our own homes and places of business.