TheSkiffView
BAD CALL
Telemarketers should observe list

You’re at home, the phone rings and you pick it up. Is it a friend asking you to have lunch with him? A family member? Nope, after a long pause and a few “hellos”, a telemarketer comes on the line and asks for someone with a last name similar to yours.

It’s happened to all of us, and it’s one of the major annoyances the information age has provided. But it appears someone called the wrong person at dinnertime and put the whole industry in danger. With speed unheard of, the United States Congress passed legislation for the creation of a “do-not-call list.”

Finally, something useful to middle-class America came from the Capitol dome. Millions of people gleefully signed up to stop hearing calls regarding aluminum siding for their apartment.

The Direct Marketing Association brought the issue to court and stopped the Federal Trade Commission from enforcing the list or letting others use the list. Rather than shift to other modes of advertising, they’re trying to hold on to the annoying American institution.

The Federal Communications Commission took up the banner and vowed to enforce the list. They started taking complaints, and 250 were filed in the first eight hours of their enforcement. They kept the list alive until yesterday, when an appeals court judge returned enforcement powers to the FTC.

The telemarketers should be applauded for voluntarily observing the do-not-call list in the last week. By their estimates, 90 percent of the numbers on the list are already out of their databases. However, it makes perfect sense considering the people on the list aren’t very likely to buy anything.

The legal wrangling is far from over, but for right now, the guys in the white hats are winning. We can only hope the Justice system values the right to privacy and a peaceful home as much as the general public does.