Do Not Call Violations Reported, FCC Trying To Illegally Retrieve List From DMA
from the that-didn't-take-long dept
Despite the DMA promising that its members would obey the national "Do Not Call" list, it appears many telemarketing firms decided to use the unclear legal status of the list as a reason to keep on calling. The FCC reports that within the first eight hours of the list being in effect, they received approximately 250 complaints from people who said they were on the list, but still receiving calls. The DMA (how nice of them) says they've set up their own system for people to complain if they were on the list and still getting phone calls. Somehow, I doubt that calling the DMA is going to be any more effective than going to the FCC. The article, though, also describes some of the political mess this is causing. Since management of the list switched over from the FTC to the FCC, it turns out that the FCC doesn't have a copy of the list and can't gain access to it. It is not explained why this is so, other than to say that the FTC shut the list down after the first lawsuit. FCC Chairman Powell actually had to ask the DMA if they could send over a copy of the list they had downloaded for the FCC to use - and also asked for a list of which members had actually downloaded the list, because it would be unfair to go after those who couldn't download the list yet (the excuse that any telemarketing company will now be using if they call someone on the list). I'm sure some more cynical folks would say that any list sent back from the DMA might be missing a few million numbers... Of course, even more amusing is the fact that the DMA says they're not sure if they can send the list to the FCC, because the FTC has said specifically that it was illegal to share the list with anyone. So, as it stands right now, the only people who actually have the "Do Not Call" list are the telemarketers and it's illegal for them to hand it over to the enforcement agency designated to enforce the list.
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
