Opinion
Kudos and Thanks for Quick Response

Edgewood Parade Turned Out Nicely

AYP Status Doesn't Tell Whole Story

Letters to the Editor

Editorial: Hibbs Has Done Job of 2 Mayors

Editorial: Law Revised for Problem Animals

Guest View: School Funding Trend Is Backward

Letters to the Editor

Editorial: We Need Jobs, Not Tax Rebates

Guest Column: Trust Keeps Byway Looking Scenic

More
Opinion

HOME	CLASSIFIEDS	OBITUARIES	SPORTS	OPINION

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Editorial: Enforcement of Registry a Relief



      Back in 2003, when the Federal Trade Commission established the National Do Not Call Registry, many wondered just what, exactly, it would take to stop persistent telemarketers from dialing.
    Try $16 million in fines and counting.
    The latest purveyors of interrupted dinners, interrupted naps, interrupted lives, are two companies that shill satellite TV services. The FTC has fined Phoenix-based Planet Earth Satellite Inc. and its president for calling consumers on the off-limits list, along with Utah-based Star Satellite LLC for failing to connect consumers to a live person within two seconds after they answer the phone.
    The first kind just gets you mad. The second, referred to in telemarketing lingo as an abandoned automated call, gets you concerned about stalkers.
    Thanks to the FTC's stipulated order — and $95,000 in fines —it's unlikely either company will be stalking Do Not Call registrants or autodialing more customers than they have customer reps to handle. The original fines, $7 million to Planet Earth and $4.37 million to Star Satellite, were dropped to $20,000 and $75,000 when the companies claimed they couldn't pay. If the feds find out they've lied, the fines will be dialed back up to the original amounts.
    And five years after the Do Not Call Registry was established, it's good to know enforcement wasn't put on hold.
   

---