September 1st, 2009 will be remembered as the day the Robocalls died, at least from Commercial organizations.
The FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule, changed last year, will be implemented starting 9/1/09. According to the FTC:
The new requirement is part of amendments to the agency’s Telemarketing
Sales Rule (TSR) that were announced a year ago. After September 1,
sellers and telemarketers who transmit prerecorded messages to
consumers who have not agreed in writing to accept such messages will
face penalties of up to $16,000 per call.
(Check out the amazing video on the FTC site about this new change. The YouTube Wedding video it is not)
Of course, the exemption for politicians remains in place.
What can be done about this exemption?
Well, for starters Citizens for Civil Discourse (The parent organization to the National Political Do Not Contact Registry) is working closely with Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) on getting the Robocall Privacy Act introduced and passed during this session.
The Robocall Privacy Act does not ban political robocalls (that would violate the 1st Amendment) but it does place important restrictions on political robocalls that would be a welcome relief to voters everywhere.
For example:
- No spoofing the caller ID. The caller ID must be accurate
- No calling before 8 AM or after 9 PM
- Identifying who is sponsoring the call at the START of the call, rather than the end of the call (if at all)
- Calling a voter no more than 2 times in a single day
We applaud Senator Feinstein and her work to bring relief to millions of Americans who have their privacy invaded every election cycle.
What can you do?
- Call your representative and ask them to support S.1077 and ask why they are not sponsoring the bill.
- Call Sen. Feinstein and thank her for her work on this issue.
- Join StopPoliticalCalls.org!
