Comment Number: OL-112347
Received: 12/27/2004 12:22:45 PM
Organization:
Commenter: David C. Law
State: WA
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 am requesting that you do not change the rules to allow companies to send pre-recorded telemarketing messages to customers. It does not seem reasonable that just because I have done business with a company, that having done so should confer some “right” upon them to then intrude into my life. It does seem reasonable that if they did not get their fair share of benefit from our business dealings, that they should change the terms upon which they are willing to do business. They should conduct business in a way that they do not feel the need to subsequently be entitled to unilaterally make use of customers’ time and resources. I have a telephone and an answering machine primarily for my own convenience and purposes. Those are resources that I paid to purchase and that I bear the cost to operate, maintain and replace. It seems unconscionable to me for a government agency to decide to let for-profit companies exploit those resources. It is not a trivial process to have to delete multiple junk messages from an answering machine or to interrupt what one is doing to answer one. Just because people are available to answer the phone does not mean their time or activity at the time of a phone call is not important. One has to listen some minimum amount of time to determine the nature of a call before deleting it or hanging up on it. The Do Not Call List and its associated rules have been highly effective in reducing the number of spam phone calls I receive. You already know how wildly popular it is with consumers. That popularity gives you some sense of how people feel about being bothered with these sorts of messages. We had to “opt-out” so to speak, in order to get on the Do Not Call List to receive a benefit that should have already been ours. The companies wanting the proposed rule want me to “opt-out” if I do not want to receive their spam. They want that because they know people will not opt-in. That in itself is an indication where you should be going with this issue. They want you to give them permission to be rude. Then there is the impact upon the telecommunications infrastructure. I am not in a position to know the extent of that impact, but the costs in terms of decreased access to the lines and of increased costs for equipment will be born by everyone with a telephone. This is not broke, so please do not “fix” it. If you believe it is in the best interest of our society to change these rules, please make it a requirement that people opt-in. The next best option to opt-in would be to have one web site or phone number where people can opt-out, and that choice apply to all businesses. Thank you for the opportunity to make these comments. David C. Law