Putting the Brakes on Nuisance Marketing Calls

Many Americans have experienced it--a telephone call at dinnertime from a telemarketer trying to sell them something. Lots of people hate them, but the legitimate business practices of most telemarketers are protected under certain constitutional provisions.

Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas--have statutes that prohibit firms from soliciting people over the telephone if the consumers' names appear on a "do-not-call" list. These lists are often similar to the national do-not-call databases and databases created and maintained by state attorneys general or by telemarketing firms.

The primary intent of the first do-not-call law, passed in Florida, was to protect the elderly. Within one month of passing do-not-call legislation, more than 180,000 New Yorkers had signed the registry blocking unwanted calls. Under the New York law, residents register their telephone numbers on an official do-not-call list. The law requires all telemarketing firms that make calls in New York to buy a copy of this list, and fines the firms $2,000 each time they call a number on the list. Since October 2000, more than 300,000 New Yorkers have signed on to this registry, most of them through e-mail to the state's consumer protection agency. Approximately 535,000 Tennesseans registered for a similar service by the end of 2000, and 110,000 citizens of Missouri signed up during the first week of registration in the Show Me state.

California, Connecticut, Virginia and Utah considered or passed similar legislation in 2000 and 2001. A California bill permits consumers to put their telephone numbers on a telemarketers' do-not-call list that would be maintained by the state. The Virginia Telephone Privacy Act allows consumers to sue for $500 in state court for each violation and for as much as $1,500 if the violation is willful.

By one estimate, the 10 largest telemarketing agencies in America have the ability to make 560 random telephone calls per second. But many Americans consider unsolicited sales calls a nuisance and an invasion of privacy.

But there is another perspective. In 1999, 5.4 million people were employed in telephone marketing, according to the Direct Marketing Association. And sales driven by the practice topped $540 billion. Some in the industry maintain that attempts to restrict telemarketing encroach on fundamental constitutional rights such as freedom of speech.

NCSL Contact: Bob Boerner

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