Telemarketing Group Agrees To Obey Do Not Call
from the where's-the-catch? dept
Well, here's a twist in the on-again, off-again (then on-again, off-again again) national "do not call" list. The Direct Marketing Association (one of the main parties in the lawsuit that says the list violates the First Amendment) has said that even though the list has been blocked, its members will agree not to call those on the list. So, this raises some questions. Why did they bring the lawsuit in the first place if they have no problem obeying the list? Did they suddenly become enlightened overnight and realize that people who say they don't want to receive calls probably are a waste of their time and money? I doubt it. Chances are it has occurred to someone at the DMA (they are marketers, even if very weak ones) that continuing to call people who are on the list after October 1st would be such a PR nightmare that it would do a lot more harm than good. What they're probably hoping for is that this situation will get dragged out in the courts, and people will begin to pay less attention to it, and then, if the ruling stands, they'll slowly start ignoring the list again. There won't be any fines to pay, since the list won't be a law, and so if anyone gets angry, the offending telemarketer will get a slap on the wrist and move on.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Only in America
A person's decision has an individual is now dead in this country.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A History Lesson
This 'First Ammendment' crap is really tiring. When will you Americans get it? The right to free speach means the freedom to speak without restriction -- but it in no way guarantees you the right to compel any target audience to listen to you.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mike, Don't be silly...
Bear mind that some of the people on the do not call list are "Stop me before I sin again" people, who desperately want to avoid buying lots more stuff from telemarketers. If the TMS could market to people on the do not call list who have bought at least three things from TMs, they might have a goldmine.
- The Precision Blogger
precision-blogging.blogspot.com
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hello from 2013
[ link to this | view in chronology ]