judge in OLK. stops the "no calll list"

wednesday

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20030924120209990008&_mpc=news%2e6

here is a link. iti s aol so i hope u can read it.

xjw_b12

Sorry weds, its calling for a sign in. Can you embed the page or copy the print?

kgfreeperson

google to the rescue! http://www.dmnews.com/cgi-bin/artprevbot.cgi?article_id=25078

Euphemism

Embedding the page wouldn't help... an embedded page is actually just a link.

Here's a link to the same story at SmartMoney.com:

http://www.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20030924-000688-1337

wednesday

thanks kgp. aol is just hell.

OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 24) -- A federal judge has ruled that the Federal Trade Commission overstepped its authority in creating the national ''do-not-call'' list against telemarketers.

The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by telemarketers who challenged the list of 50.6 million numbers submitted by people who do not want to receive business solicitation calls.

The immediate impact of Tuesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Lee R. West was not clear. He did not issue an order directing an action by the FTC. The list was to go into effect Oct. 1.

West said the main issue in the case was ''whether the FTC had the authority to promulgate a national do-not-call registry. The court finds it did not.''

In 1994, Congress enacted the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act that directed the FTC to ''prescribe rules prohibiting deceptive ... and other abusive telemarketing acts.''

But the judge said Congress gave the Federal Communications Commission, not the FTC, the authority to operate ''a single national database to compile a list of telephone numbers of residential subscribers who object to receiving telephone solicitations.''

The FTC said the Omnibus Appropriations Act, signed by President Bush in February, authorizes the FTC to ''implement and enforce the do-not-call provisions of the Telemarketing Sales Rule.''

''This decision is clearly incorrect,'' FTC chairman Timothy Muris said Wednesday. ''We will seek every recourse to give American consumers a choice to stop unwanted telemarketing calls.''

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said they were confident the ruling would be overturned and that they believe Congress gave the FTC authority to operate the registry.

''We will continue to monitor the situation and will take whatever legislative action is necessary to ensure consumers can stop intrusive calls from unwanted telemarketers,'' they said in a joint statement.

Direct Marketing Association, one of the plaintiffs, said it was happy with the ruling, even though it ''acknowledges the wishes of millions of U.S. consumers who have expressed their preferences not to receive telephone-marketing solicitations - as evidenced by the millions of phone numbers registered on the FTC list.''

The DMA, a nonprofit trade organization representing 5,000 U.S. companies, said it will work with its attorneys, the FTC and the FCC during the next few days to evaluate what the ruling will mean for consumers and businesses.

The telemarketing industry estimates the do-not-call list could cut its business in half, costing it up to $50 billion in sales each year. Telemarketers would 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 for each violation.

The lawsuit was filed by U.S. Security, Chartered Benefit Services Inc., Global Contact Services Inc., InfoCision Management Corp. and Direct Marketing Association Inc.

A similar lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Denver, where the trade group American Teleservices Association and two telemarketing companies sued in January to keep the FTC from starting the do-not-call program.

In the Denver case, the plaintiffs said the list would violate telemarketers' constitutional rights and exceed the FTC's authority. The FTC argued that the list presented no serious constitutional problems and was created under congressional authority in response to concerns about intrusions into consumers' privacy.

Plaintiffs in the Denver case are Mainstream Marketing Services Inc. of Boulder, Colo., and TMG Marketing Inc., a Nebraska company that operates from Denver.

09-24-03 14:13 EDT

Valis

Sep 24, 2:13 PM EDT

Judge Rules Against Do-Not-Call Registry

By JENNIFER L. BROWN
Associated Press Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A federal judge has ruled that the Federal Trade Commission overstepped its authority in creating the national "do-not-call" list against telemarketers.

The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by telemarketers who challenged the list of 50.6 million numbers submitted by people who do not want to receive business solicitation calls.

The immediate impact of Tuesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Lee R. West was not clear. He did not issue an order directing an action by the FTC. The list was to go into effect Oct. 1.

West said the main issue in the case was "whether the FTC had the authority to promulgate a national do-not-call registry. The court finds it did not."

In 1994, Congress enacted the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act that directed the FTC to "prescribe rules prohibiting deceptive ... and other abusive telemarketing acts."

But the judge said Congress gave the Federal Communications Commission, not the FTC, the authority to operate "a single national database to compile a list of telephone numbers of residential subscribers who object to receiving telephone solicitations."

The FTC said the Omnibus Appropriations Act, signed by President Bush in February, authorizes the FTC to "implement and enforce the do-not-call provisions of the Telemarketing Sales Rule."

"This decision is clearly incorrect," FTC chairman Timothy Muris said Wednesday. "We will seek every recourse to give American consumers a choice to stop unwanted telemarketing calls."

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said they were confident the ruling would be overturned and that they believe Congress gave the FTC authority to operate the registry.

"We will continue to monitor the situation and will take whatever legislative action is necessary to ensure consumers can stop intrusive calls from unwanted telemarketers," they said in a joint statement.

Direct Marketing Association, one of the plaintiffs, said it was happy with the ruling, even though it "acknowledges the wishes of millions of U.S. consumers who have expressed their preferences not to receive telephone-marketing solicitations - as evidenced by the millions of phone numbers registered on the FTC list."

The DMA, a nonprofit trade organization representing 5,000 U.S. companies, said it will work with its attorneys, the FTC and the FCC during the next few days to evaluate what the ruling will mean for consumers and businesses.

The telemarketing industry estimates the do-not-call list could cut its business in half, costing it up to $50 billion in sales each year. Telemarketers would 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 for each violation.

The lawsuit was filed by U.S. Security, Chartered Benefit Services Inc., Global Contact Services Inc., InfoCision Management Corp. and Direct Marketing Association Inc.

A similar lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Denver, where the trade group American Teleservices Association and two telemarketing companies sued in January to keep the FTC from starting the do-not-call program.

In the Denver case, the plaintiffs said the list would violate telemarketers' constitutional rights and exceed the FTC's authority. The FTC argued that the list presented no serious constitutional problems and was created under congressional authority in response to concerns about intrusions into consumers' privacy.

Plaintiffs in the Denver case are Mainstream Marketing Services Inc. of Boulder, Colo., and TMG Marketing Inc., a Nebraska company that operates from Denver.

Sincerely,

District Overbeer

TresHappy

I signed up every number I had for this do not call list. Now some judge has blocked it. Some lawyer is getting rich right now...

Simon

Find the phone number of the judge and all his friends, relatives etc... and post them on the Net so that the 50 million people who wanted THEIR junk calls stopped can ring him / them up every minute of the day

crownboy

(Judge) West said the main issue in the case was "whether the FTC had the authority to promulgate a national do-not-call registry. The court finds it did not."

It seems to me that the judge is leaving open the possibility of a "do not call" list going through, just not under the authority of the FTC. But as was also pointed out, there are still two (possibly three) more appeals that can be made to overturn this ruling, so who knows what will happen.

JeffT

Just in case anybody's interested the phone number for the Direct Marking Association headquarters is 212-768-6700. The Washington DC office is 202-955-5030.

judge in OLK. stops the "no calll list"

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