| Comment Number: | OL-106067 |
| Received: | 12/5/2004 5:57:51 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Cay Horstmann |
| 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 understand that the Direct Marketing Association wants the FTC to allow companies that have a "pre-existing relationship" with consumers to call with recorded messages, even if the consumers placed their phone number on the national do-not-call list. Since all it takes is a single sale with a credit card--from which a phone number is easily derived--most consumers have exploitable "pre-existing relationship" with hundreds of companies. Allowing each of them to call with recorded messages would clearly be unacceptable, particularly since auto-dialed calls are likely to be cheap and hence plentiful. Such "phone spam" would be even worse than the unsolicited calls from which the FTC has so successfully protected consumers. A large fraction of consumers has put themselves on the do-not-call list because they do not want advertising solicitations over the phone. There has been universal hatred of telemarketing calls, and there would be universal hatred of phone spam if the FTC were to allow it. Thank you for working on behalf of consumers who want to use their telephones for their own private enjoyment, not to be relentlessly targeted by advertising solicitations.