Robocalls About to End – September 1!

Thank goodness the FTC has decided to help us, as consumers, with the end of the robocall. As of the first of September, we no longer have to listen to the ads for regional plumbing services, requests by idiotic political groups that haven’t bothered to check whom they are calling, and announcements for new and helpful cures for impotence.

from slashdot

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 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.”

The really good thing is that this will also eliminate the frustration when these calls come in and display such snappy numbers on the caller ID as 000-111-0000, or my personal favorite, 123-456-7890. You’d think that they might want to be able to be called back, if they truly were offering anything of value.

Of course, it’s also sad that we had to have this passed, as it should have been taken care of by the Do Not Call list of a few years ago – one size should have fit all.

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if they don’t leave us alone now, we’ll send Marvin after them…

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Quote of the day:

The secret of eternal youth is arrested development.

- Alice Roosevelt Longworth