WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Consumer Alert: Possible Do Not Call list loophole

Consumer Alert: Possible Do Not Call list loophole

(National-NBC) Jan. 27, 2005 - It appears to be a happy anniversary for the millions of households where phones stopped ringing with telemarketer calls just about one year ago.

By all accounts the Do Not Call list with it's 81 million registered phone numbers is working.

Though telemarketers are still challenging its fairness, the Federal Trade Commission says most are playing by the new rules. And, now once you sign up telemarketers have to get you off their call rolls even faster than before, within 31 days instead of the previously allotted three months.

But, behind the rosy headlines a battle is brewing that some say could threaten the consumer protections at the heart of the list.

The FTC is weighing a change that would allow companies to make pre-recorded calls to people with whom they've done business. Right now, those types of calls are limited. The rule change would lift that cap.

Companies say they need the pre-recorded calls to maintain contact with customers. Critics say the end result would simply be more voice-mail spam. The FTC recently asked for public comment on this proposal.

The California company asking for this change provides exactly the type of service in question: automated telemarketing services. It reportedly calls about 2.5 million households on behalf of many large American businesses each day, a number that would go up if the limits are lifted.

The FTC has said this is not a giant loophole that would wreak havoc on the current quiet, but the people fighting the change predict that is the only realistic outcome.

posted 1:12pm by Chris Rees