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Tags: our rights Nearly a year after announcing the plan, new Federal Trade Commission rules prohibiting most
robocalls are set to take effect Tuesday, Sept. 1.
With the rules, prerecorded commercial telemarketing robocalls will be prohibited, unless
the telemarketer has obtained permission in writing from consumers who want to receive such
calls. Hopefully the rules will go a long way to helping consumers eat dinner in peace
without being interrupted by amazingly annoying telemarketer blather or in this case
prerecorded blather.
The change will not affect your ability to continue to receive calls that deliver
informational prerecorded messages - notifying you, for example, that your flight has been
cancelled, or that you have a service appointment. Such purely "informational" calls are not
covered by the TSR because they do not attempt to sell the called party any goods or
services, the FTC said.
The 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.
 Robocalls
billions of commercial telemarketing robocalls they receive every year," said Jon Leibowitz,
Chairman of the FTC in a release. "Starting September 1, this bombardment of prerecorded
pitches, senseless solicitations, and malicious marketing will be illegal. If consumers
think they're being harassed by robocallers, they need to let us know, and we will go after
them."
The FTC in May took action against some robocallers by asking a federal court to shut down
companies that have been bombarding consumers with hundreds of millions of allegedly
deceptive robocalls in an effort to sell vehicle service contracts.
According to the FTC, the robocalls have prompted tens of thousands of complaints from
consumers who are either on the Do Not Call Registry or asked not to be called. Five
telephone numbers associated with the defendants have generated a total of 30,000 Do Not
Call complaints. Consumers received the robocalls at home, work, and on their cell phones,
sometimes several times in one day. Businesses, government offices and even 911 dispatchers
also have been subjected to the calls, the FTC said.
The FTC complaint named as defendants Voice Touch and a company affiliated with Voice Touch
called Network Foundations . A second complaint named Transcontinental Warranty, which
sells extended auto warranties. In its complaints, the FTC said the companies are operating
a massive telemarketing scheme that uses random, pre-recorded phone calls to deceive
consumers into thinking that their vehicle's warranty is about to expire. Consumers who
respond to the robocalls are pressured to purchase extended service contracts for their
vehicles, which the telemarketers falsely portray as an extension of the manufacturer's
original warranty.
However for those who have called on the FTC to help eliminate the other phone scourge -
political robocalls - the new rules will not help. Calls from political campaigns are
considered protected speech the FTC said. Ultimately consumers may get some help from state
legislatures as many are regulating or looking to pass laws for more control over automated
or robocall computer-generated phone-calling campaigns.
One group, the National Political Do Not Contact Registry is campaigning to outlaw political robocalling altogether.
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