Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Appeals court says telemarketing rules are OK

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 15:20:14 -0500

Appeals court says telemarketing rules are OK
By HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER
February 19 12:52:00, 2004

WASHINGTON—A federal appeals court said on Tuesday that the Federal
Communications Commission, which has received nearly 10,000 complaints
regarding abuses of the National Do-Not-Call Registry, can continue
enforcing the telemarketing ban on registered numbers.

“Just as a consumer can avoid door-to-door peddlers by placing a ‘no
solicitation’ sign in his or her front yard, the National Do-Not-Call
Registry lets consumers avoid unwanted sales pitches that invade the
home via telephone, if they choose to do so. We are convinced that the
First Amendment does not prevent the government from giving consumers
this option,” wrote Judge David Ebel. “The do-not-call regulations
protect these households from receiving most unwanted telemarketing
calls. According to the telemarketers’ own estimate, 2.64 telemarketing
calls per week—more than 137 calls annually—were directed at an average
consumer before the do-not-call list came into effect.”

The FCC praised the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th
Circuit. “The National Do-Not-Call Registry is one of the most popular
and successful consumer initiatives undertaken by the federal government
and, along with the vast majority of our citizens, I commend the court
for removing the shadow of judicial uncertainty,” said FCC Chairman
Michael Powell.
The day after the 10th Circuit decision, the FCC released complaint
numbers regarding violations of its telemarketing rules. The commission
received more than 4,000 complaints in October, more than 2,000 in
November, more than 1,000 in both December and January and 867
complaints as of Feb. 17. Since the agency counts each phone call to its
call center as an informal complaint, these numbers do not necessarily
indicate wrongdoing. The FCC has issued eight citations after
investigating some complaints.

Telemarketers now have two choices. They can either ask the full 10th
Circuit to review the panel’s decision or appeal to the U.S. Supreme
Court.

http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=16961

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