Telemarketing "Do Not Call" List in final stages in Congress

It appears that this week Congress will approve the creation of a "do not call" list of consumers that is sought by the Federal Trade Commission. Consumers have besieged the F.T.C. with telephone calls and letters asking for privacy protection from telemarketers. In its bill passed last month, the Senate version included funding and authorization for the program, while the House of Representatives voted to allow the F.T.C. to establish the fees it would charge telemarketers. The F.T.C. wants not only to establish an official list of households that do not want to receive telephone sales calls, but to also have the legal authority to charge telemarketers for regulating them. The FTC's list, which it expects to have up and running by the early fall, would not stop all sales calls into the home.
Nonprofit groups, such as church and charity groups, as well as political groups would be exempt from F.T.C. regulation, although they are expected to maintain the privacy of customers who request that these groups not call them. Also, banks and telecommunications companies are not subject to regulation by the F.T.C., and these are some of the biggest U.S. telemarketers. The Federal Communications Commission regulates these companies, and the F.T.C. is working with the F.T.C. to make these regulations similarly consistent.

You can read more about this at the Washington Post.