Do Not Call Registry Put On Hold
By George Anderson
The United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma has ruled the Federal Trade Commission had overstepped its authority in establishing the national do-not-call
registry, reports the New York Times.
In his ruling, Judge Lee R. West found that while the public’s concerns were valid, the Federal Trade Commission had not been given the power by Congress to enforce the registry.
“Absent such a grant of authority in this case, the court finds the do-not-call provision to be invalid.”
In response to the ruling, Congressional leaders promised to introduce a bill giving the FTC authority to enforce the do-not-call regulation.
Senator Charles Schumer (D) of New York said, “This is the goofiest decision I’ve seen in a long time. There’s no question that Congress is going to correct this.”
Moderator’s Comment: What will be the impact of the do-not-call registry once it goes into effect?
Lawyers for telemarketing interests won a small battle with the court’s decision in Oklahoma but the war is still lost. That was decided when consumers
responded in overwhelming numbers to register for the do-not-call list. [George
Anderson – Moderator]