“RoboCalls”, Auto-dialers, and Unwanted Phone Call Rule Crackdown
The FTC has taken steps to help consumers to avoid unwanted “robocalls.” For decades, Congress and the Commission have recognized that consumers should have
control over the telemarketing calls that come to their homes and mobile devices, and be able to stop the ones that they don’t want to receive. The Commission and the FTC have long had
rules to put consumers in control. But despite these clear ground rules, too many telemarketers, aided by autodialers and prerecorded messages, have continued to call consumers who don’t want to hear from them. Consumers by the thousands have complained about having their privacy invaded and their time wasted by these unwanted calls. The FTC has taken action for consumers, providing consumers greater protection from unwanted robocalls. First, before robocalling any consumer, telemarketers will now have to get that consumer’s written consent, which may be electronic. Second, telemarketers will no longer be able to robocall a consumer simply because he or she has previously done business with that telemarketer – something data and the FTC’s record show frustrates many consumers. Now, written consent will be necessary for all telemarketing robocalls. And
to ensure that the consumer can easily change his or her mind even when written consent has been given, the new rules give consumers instant control: each and
every telemarketing robocall will have to include an automated, interactive opt-out mechanism, so that a consumer can revoke consent by pressing just a few
keys during the call. The telemarketer will have to automatically add the consumer to the company’s do-not-call list and immediately disconnect the call. We
are also closing a loophole so that every single telemarketing campaign will have to comply with strict limits on the “dead-air” telemarketing calls that are so frustrating to consumers when they interrupt their dinners or other activities to answer the phone, only to hear nothing on the other end.