President Bush launches national do-not-call list to stop telemarketers
| DAVID HO | |
| Canadian Press |
Friday, June 27, 2003
WASHINGTON (AP) - President George W. Bush launched a national do-not-call list Friday to block unwanted telemarketing, saying the last thing people need at home "is a call from a stranger with a sales pitch."
"Unwanted telemarketing calls are intrusive, they are annoying, and they're all too common," Bush said at a White House ceremony.
"When Americans are sitting down to dinner or a parent is reading to his or her child, the last thing that they need is a call from a stranger with a sales pitch," Bush said. "So we're taking practical action to address this problem."
People began registering for the do-not-call list just after midnight. As of Friday morning, Bush said 108 people were adding their phone numbers to the list every second.
The list will block about 80 per cent of telemarketing calls, said FTC Chairman Timothy Muris.
"People own their homes and their phones and now they will have a choice about whether they want the calls," Muris said in an interview.
Telephone registration is being done in stages to ensure the system can handle the volume of calls expected, the FTC said. The commission expects up to 60 million phone numbers to be registered in the first year.
People who sign up this summer should see a decrease in telemarketing calls after the FTC begins enforcing the do-not-call list on Oct. 1. Registrations will have to be renewed every five years.
U.S. consumers can register for the free government service by visiting the Web site www.donotcall.gov. Telephone registration using a toll-free number was available in states west of the Mississippi River, including Minnesota and Louisiana, starting Friday, and countrywide by July 7, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said.
On the Web site, people will have to provide the phone number they want protected and an e-mail address to receive confirmation. Consumers calling the toll-free number will have to call from the telephone number they want to register.
Telemarketers attempt up to 104 million calls in the United States every day, according to the FTC.
The industry has said the registry will devastate their business and has sued the FTC, saying the program amounts to an unlawful restriction on free speech.
But the FCC voted 5-0 Thursday to add its authority to the do-not-call list, blocking telemarketing calls from within a state - the FTC could only police interstate calls - and from industries whose calls the agency regulates, including airlines, banks and telephone companies.
Of the states with do-not-call lists, 13 plan to add their lists of 8.1 million numbers to the national registry this summer, three have legislation pending to allow them to share, and 11 will not share the information, the FTC said. Consumers on state lists added to the national one need not register again.
Beginning in September, telemarketers will have to check the list every three months to see who doesn't want to be called. Those who call listed people could be fined up to $11,000 US for each violation. Consumers would file complaints to an automated phone or online system.
Exemptions from the list include calls from charities, pollsters and on behalf of politicians. Registered consumers also can give written permission to get calls from certain companies.
A company also may call someone on the no-call list if that person has bought, leased or rented from the company within the previous 18 months. Telemarketers also may call people if they have inquired about or applied for something from the company in the previous three months.
But consumers can avoid those calls by asking to be put on an individual company's do-not-call list.
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