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Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Attention Telemarketers: Leave me alone. Forever!
by brian @ 13:16:32 - [perma-link]
I found this article about the "do not call" list being blocked.

The U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City said the Federal Trade
Commission overstepped its authority when it set up the popular
anti-telemarketing measure, according to a court decision filed late on
Tuesday.

The FTC has signed up some 50 million phone numbers for the list, which
was due to take effect on Oct. 1.

The Direct Marketing Association sued to block the list shortly after
Congress approved it in January, saying it would violate free-speech
laws and discriminate against an industry that provides millions of
jobs.

Let's think about this for a sec. 50 million numbers are signed up.
That's 50 million households who say they do not want telemarketers
calling them. That represents a fairly significant portion of the 300
million or so people in the US who do not want to receive telemarketing
calls. At all. Whether or not the government has the authority to
implement this, the people who signed up on the list do not want to
be called. The list is a good thing for everyone.

For people on the list (like me), its a way to opt-out of
telemarketing. I currently pay something like $10/month for a "privacy
guard" on my phone line. Any incoming call without a valid caller-id
gets redirected to some sort of menu or something. I now receive no
(zip, nada, zero!) telemarketing calls. From where I sit, its like
extortion; it's like paying "protection money" to the mob so their
thugs don't come trash your place.

For the telemarketing companies, its a list of 50 million numbers they
don't have to waste time calling. They don't have to pay their
employees (er, war-dialers) to waste time calling those 50 million
numbers. It makes their process way more efficient.

And for the poor schlubs manning the phones, its 50 million fewer "no,
I'm REALLY REALLY NOT INTERESTED! LEAVE ME ALONE!" hang-ups they don't
have to hear. It would lower their stress, improve their "hit rate",
and probably improve morale. They wouldn't have to feel quite as
ashamed when someone asks them what they do. (I don't buy the "it
creates jobs" argument anymore than I believe the RIAA is suing people
to "protect the artists".)

The only potential losers in this are the phone companies, who stand to
lose my $10/month for the privacy service. But that would probably
cancel-out with the reduced costs, as they will have some multiple of
50-million fewer unproductive connections to make.

So what's the problem? Why are the telemarketers fighting it?

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