Telemarketers Protest Creation of F.T.C.'s "Do Not Call" List

Four telemarketing companies and a telemarketing trade group, including plaintiffs Chartered Benefit Services (based in Illinois), Global Contact Services (based in Delaware), Infocision Management Corporation (based in Delaware), U.S. Security (based in Oklahoma) and the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) trade group (based in Oklahoma) jointly filed suit in U.S. Federal District Court in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, asking the Federal Court to block the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (F.T.C.) from establishing a "Do Not Call" List. The "Do Not Call" List would impose stiff fines for violation of privacy of the consumers on the List. The F.T.C. decided to create the "Do Not Call" List after it received more than 50,000 complaint letters regarding unwanted telephone solicitations at their homes. The F.T.C. List would allow consumers to request that their names and telephone numbers appear on a central "Do Not Call" list that telemarketing companies would have access to and be responsible for complying with. Fines for ignoring the FTC List would subject telemarketers to fines of up to $11,000 for each offense it was found guilty of committing. There is an exemption from the "Do Not Call" list for callers from charities and political groups. The proposed FTC List could be in place before the end of this summer, depending on the Court's ruling.

The telemarketer group and the DMA trade group argued in their brief to the Court that the FTC List would violate free speech protections and unfairly penalize and discriminate against an entire industry that provides millions of jobs. The plaintiffs also argued that the F.T.C. should have waited to move forward with its proposal for the List until the Federal Communications Commission (F.C.C.) issued its assessment of the telemarketing rules from the F.C.C.'s telecommunications industry regulatory perspective.

Other Federal Courts have ruled in favor of laws banning unsolicited advertising in decisions involving unwanted "junk" faxes. The proposed FTC List provisions have passed the U.S. Senate, and on Wednesday the U.S. House of Representatives voted to permit collection of fees from telemarketers by the F.T.C. to help fund the creation of the "Do Not Call" List and its ongoing administration.