The telemarketing industry, already suffering from the wild success of the National Do Not Call Registry, asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ease up and allow their members to deliver pre-recorded messages to consumers. But after getting over 14,000 mostly negative comments from the public, the FTC banned the calls.
The FTC's amendments to the telemarketing rule (.pdf) ban telemarketers from sending prerecorded messages, unless they had obtained the recipient's signed, written agreement to receive the calls.
The ban does not apply to calls that deliver "purely informational" messages, such as notifications of flight delays or service appointment time changes.
"Just like the provisions of the Do Not Call Registry, these changes will protect consumers' privacy," said FTC Chairman William E. Kovacic in a press release. "The amendments now directly enable consumers to choose whether they want to receive prerecorded telemarketing calls."
Also See:
How File a Telemarketing Complaint
Two Telemarketers Fined $500,000
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