| Comment Number: | OL-113037 |
| Received: | 1/10/2005 7:53:25 AM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Louis Catron |
| State: | VA |
| Subject: | Trade Regulation Rule on Telemarketing Sales |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 310 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
Ladies and Gentlemen: Whatever else, please do NOTHING to weaken the "Do not call" legislation. It has been a delight to be almost totally free of those annoying and highly irritating invasions of privacy. Please do NOT allow telemarketers to circumvent the protection to consumers. In particular, please do not open the door to pre-recorded telemarketing messages, which are even more annoying than a live human's call. After all, we can speak to the live human and protest the phone call; the recording is merely an inhuman contact. Hearing a cold, robotic message is extremely irritating and an ugly invasion. Further, do not allow the telemarketers to use the artifical ploy of saying consumers can contact them to get off their phone list. That's disingenuous. It puts the burden on the consumer. And one has reason to strongly doubt that contacting them to get off their lists will be easy or convenient but will instead be met with all sorts of cleverly designed difficulties. The pre-recorded technique will allow telemarketers to outsource their calls to India. I oppose outsourcing. I would much prefer adding strength to the rules so NO ONE can use the telemarketing ploy unless the consumer actually "opts in." Certainly I totally oppose any weakening of the system. I like that old phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The "do not call" system isn't broke. Please don't do anything to "fix it" in a way that is designed for the telemarketer, not the consumer. Thank you.