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CNN LIVE TODAY
"Do Not Call" Proposal Questioned by Telemarketers
Aired April 2, 2002 - 14:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We want to take you to a story that Brooks Jackson has been working on. Time was -- well, it was the opportunity to knock, but now it's calling, calling, calling. And Brooks Jackson investigated a proposal to make it stop.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello?
BROOKS JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Krista Harden isn't buying. But telemarketers just keep calling anyway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can lower your rates to 37.99...
JACKSON: As many as 10 per day, morning to night. So many, she kept a log.
KRISTA HARDEN, TIRED OF TELEMARKETERS: Already one, two, three, four, five, six of them today.
JACKSON: Telemarketers may be the most despised industry in America, judging by the public response to a plan to block their calls. The Federal Trade Commission says it has received more than 32,000 comments on its proposal for a national "do not call" registry, and still counting -- overwhelmingly, in favor. "Where do I sign up?"
"It would be wonderful."
"Finally, an equivalent of a 'no solicitors' sign, but for my phone." Telemarketers say the proposal would cramp their freedom of speech.
JERRY CERASALE, DIRECT MARKETING ASSN.: The FTC "do not call" list, proposed "do not call list," is more restrictive than necessary to meet the government needs. And therefore it violates the First Amendment.
JACKSON: But consumers say their right to privacy is more important. Example: "The Constitution doesn't say anything about anyone having the right to invade my home and talk to me just because he wants to." Lots like that.
Telemarketers are orchestrating opposing comments. Nine-hundred and seventy-three mostly identical messages from this one Oklahoma firm's workers alone. "This new rule will impact my job," goes the script.
But consumers bristle at that. "Those people need to get real jobs."
The telemarketers boiler plate says consumers like their services. "The people we call are pleasant... I am proud of what I do." But consumers say the telemarketers should be ashamed.
"I feel I am being stalked by these people. In the name a suffering humanity, make it stop." The proposal would let consumers list their phone numbers on a national "do not call" list, maintained by the FTC. Telemarketers calling those numbers anyway could be fined up to $11,000 per call.
But many telemarketers would not be covered, including the phone company salesmen pressuring Krista Harden. Others not covered, national banks, nonprofits such as colleges, state-regulated insurance companies, local businesses calling within a state, political candidates and parties -- all fall outside the FTC's jurisdiction. The industry says that means the rule won't work.
CERASALE: You're looking at at least 50, probably 50 percent of the calls aren't even covered by it.
JACKSON: And many consumers agree, but they'd like even stronger action. "Telemarketing should be illegal," said many, outlawed completely. You can already sign up for an industry-sponsored "don't call" list. Send a letter or pay 5 bucks at their Web site.
(on camera): But the complaints keep coming. Consumers calling telemarketers a plague and a curse. More than 90 percent of the commentors say they want a "do not call" registry. The rest, nearly all work for telemarketers.
Brooks Jackson, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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