Computerworld
Quick Menu
Search



Ads by TechWords

See your link here


Subscribe to our e-mail newsletters
For more info on a specific newsletter, click the title. Details will be displayed in a new window.
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
More E-Mail Newsletters 
Computerworld 2007Subscribe to Computerworld
40 years of the most authoritative source of news and information for IT leaders.

Telemarketers sue to stop national do-not-call list

 

Sign up to receive Government Resource Alerts

January 30, 2003 (Computerworld) -- Telemarketers yesterday filed two separate lawsuits against the Federal Trade Commission to try and stop a regulation that would restrict their calls to consumers.
The "do-not-call" program, first unveiled early last month (see story), would allow people to add their names to a list of consumers who do not want to be contacted by telemarketers. Charities and political groups would be exempt, but telemarketing companies that ignore the FTC list would face fines of up to $11,000.
One lawsuit was filed in federal court in Oklahoma by the New York-based Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and four telemarketing companies: Global Contact Services, Infocision Management Corp., U.S. Security Inc. and Chartered Benefit Services Inc.
The second lawsuit was filed in federal court in Colorado by the Washington-based American Teleservices Association (ATA), and two telemarketing firms: Mainstream Marketing Services Inc. and TMG Marketing Inc.
In their complaints, the ATA, the DMA and the other plaintiffs claim that the FTC's rule would cripple their industry by removing as many as 60% of all U.S. households from the marketplace, violate their right to free speech and exceed the FTC's statutory authority. They also said consumers are already protected under 27 existing state do-not-call lists as well as a voluntary national list run by the DMA.
Matt Mattingley, the ATA's director of government affairs, said the FTC has not provided any evidence to show that the existing programs don't work.
FTC spokeswoman Claudia Bourne Farrell said the agency would have no comment until it had reviewed the documents.
But in a statement on his Web site, Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters Corp., said the lawsuits are unlikely to succeed, even though the telemaketers filed them in courts that have been sympathetic to the interests of business.
"Telemarketing is an idea whose time has gone," Catlett said. "This line of business should just die quietly. Their ridiculously inflated figures claiming that the average American gives $1,000 a year to telemarkers just don't pass the smell test. Their First Amendment claims have been repeatedly rejected by courts in other analogous cases such as junk faxes. The suits are simply a desperate delaying of the overdue."




Print this Story Send Us Feedback E-mail this Story Digg! Digg this Story Slashdot this Story
"The much-maligned Microsoft Zune apparently has the world's most powerful man as its fan. President-elect Barack Obama was seen using..." Read more...
"In Thursday's..." Read more...
Read more Government & Regulation posts or See all Blogs
Windows users indifferent to Microsoft patch alarm, says researcher
Tech jobs down sharply but not out
Apple yanks antivirus advice from its Web site
More top stories...
Microsoft slates 8 bug updates for year's final Patch Tuesday
De Beers tries to force spoof news Web site offline over fake ad
Microsoft confirms Yahoo's Lu to run online services
Thin as ever, the latest Air offers up to twice the storage and snappy performance.
We've got an array of economical, expensive, and just plain weird tech gifts for your friends and family.
The spam-spewing 'Srizbi' botnet that was shut down two weeks ago has been resurrected and is again under criminal control, say security researchers.
Facebook is popular and growing -- especially with criminals. Here's why they love it.
Get the latest news, reviews and more about Microsoft's newest desktop operating system
Find wage data for 50 IT job titles.
All Zones
Business Continuity Zone
The File Data Management Zone
Security Management Zone
The SAS Zone
Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone
The Enterprise Search Zone
Software as a Service Zone
The Security Zone

Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Computerworld Executive Briefing: The Compliance Era
Get this briefing free (a $195 value), for a limited time, courtesy of VeriSign.
The new Computerworld report, The Compliance Era, explains why regulatory compliance has zoomed to the top of the IT agenda and shows how real-world IT executives are dealing with the storage, security and privacy challenges. Get this briefing free (a $195 value), for a limited time, courtesy of VeriSign.
Download this executive briefing download
Implementing VMware Server Virtualization on Juniper Networks Infrastructure
Download this white paper today!
(Source: Juniper) This informative white paper provides various server and network design considerations typically associated with the data center environment. By following the recommended implementation guidelines addressed in this paper, successful server virtualization can be accomplished in a cost-effective manner, while still maintaining a highly scalable and reliable network architecture.
Download this white paper go
Dynamic Data Center and Virtualization Drives Operational Excellence at Emory Healthcare
Dynamic Data Center and Virtualization Drives Operational Excellence at Emory Healthcare
View this on demand webcast, compliments of Egenera, for a limited time!
Go to the webcast 
White Papers
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services.
8 Things You Need to Handle Today's Network Traffic
Next-Gen Load Balancing: 3 Keys to Successful Delivery of Advanced Web Apps
Building a Reliable and Dynamic Data Center with PAN Manager by Egenera
View more whitepapers