[an error occurred while processing this directive]
"DO NOT CALL", OPT-OUT, & FREEDOM FROM MARKETERS
News stories about registries, opt-out, and aggressive or overly aggressive marketing.




It's not easy to block calls by Uncle Sam
"Twice last year, Irene Berry got phone calls at work for her son, Will. "They sounded like friends," Berry said. "Only I couldn't figure out why they were calling my office." The Jefferson County mom soon got an answer. One caller was from the Navy, the other from the Marine Corps."
Full story - Denver Post
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Sep 24 10:45:31 EDT 2005



Hoosiers cherish right to privacy, no-call list (editorial)
"If you've been following John Roberts' confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, you may have concluded that the existence of a right to privacy is the most contentious constitutional issue of our day."
Full story - FortWayne.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Sep 20 16:50:48 EDT 2005



Indiana do-not-call law upheld by federal judge
"A federal judge ruled that the state's do-not-call list law does not violate the First Amendment... Indiana's do-not-call law is one of the toughest in the nation, and allows charities to make solicitation calls only if they use employees or volunteers to make the calls. The charities that sued used professional telemarketers to solicit donations."
Full story - First Amendment Center
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Sep 17 15:08:52 EDT 2005



Federal Judge Upholds Indiana DNC List in Nonprofit Ruling
"A federal judge ruled that Indiana's do-not-call law does not violate the U.S. Constitution. At issue was whether nonprofits could have professional fundraisers make calls to numbers registered on the state's DNC file."
Full story - DMNews
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Sep 16 12:20:06 EDT 2005



Get free VoIP calling from AdCalls, lose all your friends
"Telemarketers are very clever folks... Their latest attempt comes in the form of AdCalls, a Skype-like service that promises free long-distance calls from a PC while you watch ads scroll across the app's interface. Too good to be true, you say. You're damn right it is... From AdCalls' Privacy Policy: If you originate a telephone call or send an email message to a third party, you give us the third party's contact information, such as email address. We complete the call and retain that person's information to contact them later to solicit them to join our AdCalls service or for other purposes. Other purposes, eh?"
Full story - engadget.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Sep 8 16:39:48 EDT 2005



MP blasts telephone hawkers
"... Dr Stone said the activities of these direct marketing organisations in Australia are largely regulated by the National Privacy Principles established under the Privacy Act of 1988... "If you think that an organisation has breached its obligations under the Privacy Act, you can make a complaint to the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner."
Full story - The Advertiser (AU)
Submitted by Anonymous, Wed Sep 7 13:51:25 EDT 2005



Company to fight phone harassment
"APPREHENDED violence orders will be sought against companies that make unsolicited telephone calls to people who join a new do-not-contact register. And the Privacy Commissioner will be asked to intervene if companies breach the register's not-to-call list."
Full story - Daily Telegraph
Submitted by Anonymous, Mon Aug 29 13:58:46 EDT 2005



New laws may revise junk fax rules
"... A new federal law gives more leeway to faxers, exposing people to even more fax spam, consumer advocates say. But Californians may regain some protections if a bill, SB 833, passes the state Legislature and is signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bill could be heard by the assembly as soon as next week."
Full story - Mercury News (reg. req.)
Submitted by Anonymous, Sun Aug 28 08:46:54 EDT 2005



VoIP Emerging as Next Spam Entryway
"The challenge in building VoIP anti-spam tools is finding algorithms that can determine if calls are generated by humans or machines... Spammers can record one voice-mail message and send it to hundreds of thousands of IP addresses, where it appears in users' voice mailboxes... Another similarity to e-mail spam is VoIP spammers are able to spoof users' voicemail box addresses."
Full story - technewsworld.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Wed Aug 24 13:33:31 EDT 2005



Judge rules against telemarketer
"Anderson businessman Gabe Gouvis is Indiana's first telemarketer sued, accused of violating the state's three-year-old telephone privacy law. He acted as his own attorney and mounted no defense. Afterward he said he is glad "just be done with it.""
Full story - WTHR
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Aug 23 16:28:28 EDT 2005



Checking out the opt outs
"... Another opt-out service that works well, says Givens, is 888-5OPTOUT, which lets consumers curtail pre-approved credit and insurance offers. "In two or three months you'll notice a dramatic decrease in the amount of mail you receive. The problem is it's not as well known as the Do Not Call service. It hasn't had the publicity, and there's no requirement that creditors and credit bureaus notify individuals about it," Givens says. "It should be on the first page of every prescreened offer in bold letters -- that opt out is available." But 888-5OPTOUT doesn't stop financial institutions you do business with from sharing or selling information about you with third parties. To do that you have to rely on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the financial privacy law that, among other things, gives consumers some say-so over how their personal information is used. Givens calls it the weakest of the opt outs."
Full story - BankRate
Submitted by Anonymous, Wed Aug 3 13:16:12 EDT 2005



Privacy Groups, Senators Oppose Preemption of Anti-Telemarketing Laws
"From www.epic.org: EPIC and 11 consumer advocacy groups urged the Federal Communications Commission not to preempt strong anti-telemarketing laws. Retailers like the Sports Authority, banks, and telemarketers are trying to invalidate all state telemarketing laws, which would lead to a massive increase of unwanted sales calls. Sen. Bill Nelson and nine other senators also filed a letter (pdf) opposing preemption."
Full story - Joint statement (comments)
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Jul 30 08:46:06 EDT 2005



FTC Prescreen Opt-out Notice Rule Takes Effect August 1
"Beginning August 1, 2005, companies that send "prescreened" solicitations of credit or insurance to consumers will be required to provide simple and easy-to-understand notices that explain consumers' right to opt out of receiving future offers. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) required the FTC, in consultation with the federal banking and credit union agencies, to prescribe the format, type size, and manner for these opt-out notices. The FTC also is issuing a new consumer education brochure to help consumers understand the prescreening process and what they should consider in deciding whether to opt out."
Full story - FTC
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Jul 28 09:50:21 EDT 2005



Small privacy issues make a big difference
"Last week the Privacy Commissioner of Canada provided a measure of relief to Canadians who are tired of rifling through overstuffed envelopes filled with marketing materials while in search of their monthly bank statement. In a controversial finding, the Commissioner ruled that the inclusion of marketing materials constitutes "secondary marketing'' and that consumers should be entitled to opt-out of receiving it."
Full story - canada.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Jul 28 09:41:37 EDT 2005



Indiana: No-call list under attack
"The Indiana do-not-call list is under siege once again, this time by 32 organizations including Miracle Flights for Kids and the Cancer Recovery Foundation of America. A coalition of professional telemarketers and organizations that utilize fundraisers recently filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission challenging Indiana's law."
Full story - South Bend Tribune
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Jul 16 09:19:15 EDT 2005



Attorney General urges Hoosiers to speak out
"Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter urges Hoosiers to take a new opportunity to speak out against the effort to weaken the state's Do Not Call law. After a request by Carter, the Federal Communications Commission has announced it will again be accepting public comments on the Consumer Bankers Association's petition filed with the agency by the national trade association of banks."
Full story - TribStar.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Jul 1 14:07:09 EDT 2005



Congress Opens Junk Fax Floodgates with New Law
"From epic.org: Congress Tuesday passed a bill that would permanently allow an "existing business relationship" exemption for commercial "junk faxes." Under the law, if an individual does business with any company, the company can begin to send the individual junk faxes, even if the individual does not provide the business with a fax number. The law allows direct marketers to troll the Internet, phone books, and advertisements to harvest fax numbers of their customers. The bill sets no time limit for an existing business relationship, unlike the national no-call list, which limits such relationships to those who made a purchase in the past 18 months or an inquiry in the past three months."
Full story - S.714
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Jun 30 05:12:21 EDT 2005



Tampa company gets 'do not call' lawsuit
"The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said Friday it sued Liberty One Capital Inc., alleging the Tampa company's telemarketers called residents on the state's "do not call" list."
Full story - St. Petersburg Times
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Jun 18 12:48:55 EDT 2005



State acts to stop alleged no-call violations
"A Madison County judge granted a temporary restraining order today against an Anderson man for refusing to obey the state's do-not-call telephone privacy law. Attorney General Steve Carter, for the first time, sought a court's intervention to stop someone from making unwanted calls."
Full story - IndyStar
Submitted by Anonymous, Wed May 18 14:23:26 EDT 2005



Privacy Bills Passes Senate
"SACRAMENTO - Bills to prohibit junk faxes and bar businesses from discriminating against consumers who refuse to release personal information were approved by the state Senate on Monday."
Full story - SacUnion
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue May 10 12:51:08 EDT 2005



Ofcom threatens firm over cold calling
"Kitchens Direct has been slapped with an official warning from communications regulator Ofcom over the high number of silent phone calls it is making. Owner MKD Holdings must now reduce the level of calls or face a fine. Silent calls are caused by the computerised dialling equipment that is common in telesales. The equipment often dials more numbers than there are call centre operators available - in the expectation that some of the people being called will not be home."
Full story - Out-Law.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri May 6 09:47:43 EDT 2005



Ireland: Data Protection Commission hits out at ComReg
"In his organisation's latest annual report, the Data Protection Commissioner of Ireland Joe Meade has hit out at ComReg for failing to put in place the phone opt-out register to prevent unsolicited marketing phone calls. It is understood that ComReg has responded by promising such a database will be in place by July. In a wide-ranging report that took in a variety of intrusions on individuals' privacy ranging from spam to unsolicited phone marketing activities, Meade revealed that the number of formal complaints concluded by the Data Protection Commission in 2004 was 366, while 385 new complaints were received (258 in 2003)."
Full story - SiliconRepublic.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Wed Apr 20 09:35:37 EDT 2005



OptoutPrescreen.com's Privacy Policy
"I guess we are supposed to be grateful that the major credit reporting companies are now providing a way to opt out on-line. But after my own experience using www.optoutprescreen.com, gratitude is not what I'm feeling. What I am feeling is that the whole credit reporting racket is in need of a serious overhaul."
Full story - Ed Foster's Gripe Log
Submitted by Anonymous, Sat Apr 16 11:51:45 EDT 2005



Pranksters Use Caller ID to Dial M for Mayhem
"... New Brunswick police received a call from a female claiming she was handcuffed, held hostage and being raped in an apartment. Police surrounded the property for six hours, and the situation made national news. A Texas woman has admitted making the call as part of a potentially deadly prank, known as bombing, which aims to bring tactical or SWAT teams to victims' homes."
Full story - Newhouse
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Apr 14 13:58:38 EDT 2005



'Spoofing' lets pranksters dial M for mayhem
"... Over the past few months, companies such as Camophone, CovertCall, Telespoof and SpoofTel have sprouted online with offers to place calls that display any callback number you want, for just pennies a minute. "Be Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime," proclaims the Web site of PI Phone. PI Phone and rivals Star38 and U.S.Tracers purport to serve only private investigators or law enforcement personnel, who presumably have good reasons for tricking outlaws to answer the phone. But other services welcome all comers; for an extra fee some even will record the results."
Full story - Star-Ledger
Submitted by Anonymous, Mon Apr 11 09:00:16 EDT 2005



Cell phone Do-Not-Call list close to becoming law
"DENVER - Pen, ink and Gov. Owens' signature are all that is between Colorado residents and their right to collect hundreds of dollars from telemarketers who call their cell phones."
Full story - 9News
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Mar 31 09:15:22 EST 2005



Feds shouldn't undercut state do-not-call law (editorial)
"Indiana has the nation's toughest do-not-call law. The Federal Communications Commission, an appointed body with no direct accountability to voters, may louse that up, but a bill in the Indiana General Assembly has the power to foil that plan. The FCC is considering a petition, filed by a consortium of bankers, asking the FCC to override state laws that restrict or ban telemarketing calls to established customers. The petition is not limited to financial institutions; it would include any company that someone has done business with in the past 18 months."
Full story - Chronicle-Tribune
Submitted by Anonymous, Wed Mar 23 06:57:39 EST 2005



Telemarketing hits city folks real hard
"As tele-marketers relentlessly pursue customers, Punekars term it infringement of privacy. Bank executives call on my cell or on my landline asking for some Mr X. If I tell them it's a wrong number, they insist on speaking to me instead. This is completely cheap selling," says Rakesh Abyankar, manager with an advertising firm."
Full story - Pune Times
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Mar 22 17:37:09 EST 2005



Crackdown vs. text spam set
"After receiving numerous complaints from obviously irked mobile phone subscribers, the National Telecommunications Commission is set to crack down on unsolicited broadcast/push messaging services or text spam. The NTC has adopted the Opt-In Regime where public telecommunications entities %93are prohibited to send unsolicited commercial messages%94 to its subscribers."
Full story - thefreeman.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Mar 18 13:23:17 EST 2005



IN: Legislators Launch Volley in Do-Not-Call Fight
"Banks that are challenging Indiana's no-call list are now the target of legislation that would prevent them from doing businss with state government. Leaders in the state Senate Wednesday announced that they are working with Attorney General Steve Carter to prevent state government funds from being deposited in any bank that has petitioned the FCC regarding the do-not-call list. Eight banks have done so. Also, Staci Schneider from the attorney general's office says that the amended language "requires any company that does business with the state to follow the do-no-call law.""
Full story - WISH8
Submitted by Anonymous, Thu Mar 17 07:05:51 EST 2005



Bayh, Lugar try to save Do-Not-Call
"U.S. Sens. Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh are urging the Federal Communications Commission to protect Indiana's Do-Not-Call law from attempts to weaken it. Although they are from different parties -- Lugar is a Republican and Bayh a Democrat -- the two lawmakers from Indiana have a long history of working together."
Full story - South Bend Tribune
Submitted by Anonymous, Tue Mar 15 09:39:00 EST 2005



DMA to Work With Privacy Group
"The Direct Marketing Association is exploring ways it can work more closely with the International Association of Privacy Professionals on common issues surrounding marketing and privacy."
Full story - DIRECT
Submitted by Anonymous, Mon Mar 14 07:52:39 EST 2005



Residents try to save Do Not Call list
"The most powerful telephone privacy law in the nation is under attack. The Consumer Bankers Association has submitted a petition to the FCC asking that exemptions be placed in the Indiana Telephone Privacy Law to allow companies to contact individuals they have previously done business with. Provisions to protect consumers from such calls are what set Indiana's law apart from the National Do Not Call Registry, said Staci Schneider, press secretary for Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter."
Full story - The Exponent
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Mar 11 14:22:14 EST 2005



Canada: Federal Court Of Appeal Weighs In On Privacy And Consent
"The first detailed substantive decision of an appeal court on Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) provides important comments on a number of issues under Canadian privacy legislation. The initial complaint before the federal Office of the Privacy Commissioner (the Commissioner) involved the type of consent required under PIPEDA for the listing of first-time customers' personal information in telephone directories, the appropriate manner of obtaining that consent, and the reasonableness of fees charged for de-listing. In the subsequent proceedings in the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal, the courts considered a number of additional issues, including interpretation of PIPEDA, the nature of hearings under PIPEDA and deference to the Commissioner, the standing of complainants and jurisdictional issues."
Full story - Mondaq
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Mar 4 05:30:09 EST 2005



FCC proposes $770,000 do-not-call fine
"The government proposed a $770,000 fine on Tuesday against a mortgage company for allegedly calling people who put their telephone numbers on the federal do-not-call registry. The Federal Communications Commission cited Phoenix-based Dynasty Mortgage, L.L.C. for 70 apparent violations of the rules designed to curb telemarketing abuse."
Full story - nola.com
Submitted by Anonymous, Fri Mar 4 05:26:11 EST 2005








"DO NOT CALL," OPT-OUT, & FREEDOM FROM MARKETERS
  • Trans Union: Opt Out
  • Financial Privacy: How to Read Your "Opt-Out" Notices
  • National Do Not Call Registry




  • [an error occurred while processing this directive]