| Comment Number: | OL-110161 |
| Received: | 12/14/2004 4:41:20 PM |
| Organization: | (self, but per notice by "epic.org") |
| Commenter: | William Bailey |
| 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:
To the Commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission: I've read carefully the proposed 'safe harbor' to be added to the Federal *Do Not Call* list, and I've come to the unalterable conclusion that it is an unwarranted and unjustifiable weakening of the new law. It took far too long to get where we are - to have a list which would prevent telemarketers from pitching Americans who do not wish to hear it. The telemarketing industry is quite clearly looking for loopholes which would make the DNC list meaningless. I vehemently object. I myself had a complaint concerning abuse of an auto- matic dialer denied in part by my own Public Utilities Commission here in California, and one of the issues raised was a bogus claim that, because the abuser was a political candidate, a prior relationship existed merely since I was a voter. And it was a PUC ombudswoman who created that red herring! I've seen what the telemarketing industry does; I've seen how it turns even our own supposed advocates, paid for with our own tax dollars, against us when we initiate proceedings against telecommunications services abusers. It angers me deeply that, after so many millions of Americans spoke so clearly and loudly on this issue, that such a so-called *Safe Harbor* for which the telemarketers are now shilling would even be a subject for discussion. Millions upon millions of Americans have already said it, and distinctly, no matter what the ATA and the DMA attempt to claim: We want a real *Do Not Call* list, we want it now, and we want no loopholes. We are paying for our telephone service, and we are not going to pay for advertising directed to us by use of that same service. Please don't fall for the telemarketers' deceitful and dishonest *back door* exploit. That is all that this latest attempt at nullification of the *Do Not Call* list really is. ** Please reject completely the attempted *Safe Harbor* ** initiative on the part of the telemarketers. We citizens ** are the ones entitled to our own *safe harbor* from ** sanctioned telephone harassment by the 'phone ** marketing syndicates - and maintaining the Federal ** *Do Not Call* list in its current state best provides us ** that harbor. Respectfully, William F. Bailey -=0=-