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People Register in Droves for Do-Not-Call Lists
Aired June 27, 2003 - 15:00 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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Officials here in Washington sometimes take action that many Americans don't even notice. But today, a federal move to let you block annoying telemarketing calls is striking a nerve. People are signing up in droves for the new national do-not-call list.
The Federal Trade Commission reports 370,000 phone numbers registered in just the first 12 hours. The do-not call Web site is being visited 1,000 times a second. Sorry about that noise. There's a siren right behind me. That Web site says it is so busy many people can't even log on.
Telemarketers say the list will cost their industry, though, two million jobs. But clearly, President Bush sees this as a winning issue. For more, let's turn to our White House correspondent Dana Bash. She's with the president today in California -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Judy. Well, President Bush is here in the San Francisco Bay area. First of all, to raise $1.6 million at his first stop here. Then he will go on to raise more money later on this evening in Los Angeles.
It's all a part of an effort to campaign now says should get him $27 million by the end of the month. But before he left the White House this morning, the president did make an announcement it's fair to say almost all voters will be extremely thankful for, and that is the ability if they choose to stop telephones from constantly ringing from unwanted solicitations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unwanted telemarketing calls are intrusive, they are annoying and they're all too common. When Americans are sitting down to dinner or a parent is reading to his or her child, the last thing they need is a call from a stranger with a sales pitch. So we're taking practical action to address this problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Judy, beginning on October 1, marketers will be required to take the numbers and the names of people who want them off the list off their list within three months. And it's expected to block some 80 percent of unwanted calls. And the FCC believes that 60 million people are expected to sign up for this. And when I asked the White House official why it was important enough for the president of the United States to announce, the answer was that he thought it was important. It was part of his budget, and it is obviously an issue that doesn't -- isn't likely to spark many partisan (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: All right. Dana Bash with the president in California. Obviously, a lot of people can't get to that phone number quick enough or to that Web site to sign themselves up. You can log on to cnn.com for more information about the do-not call registry and a link to the federal Web site where you, too, can sign up.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 27, 2003 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Officials here in Washington sometimes take action that many Americans don't even notice. But today, a federal move to let you block annoying telemarketing calls is striking a nerve. People are signing up in droves for the new national do-not-call list.
The Federal Trade Commission reports 370,000 phone numbers registered in just the first 12 hours. The do-not call Web site is being visited 1,000 times a second. Sorry about that noise. There's a siren right behind me. That Web site says it is so busy many people can't even log on.
Telemarketers say the list will cost their industry, though, two million jobs. But clearly, President Bush sees this as a winning issue. For more, let's turn to our White House correspondent Dana Bash. She's with the president today in California -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Judy. Well, President Bush is here in the San Francisco Bay area. First of all, to raise $1.6 million at his first stop here. Then he will go on to raise more money later on this evening in Los Angeles.
It's all a part of an effort to campaign now says should get him $27 million by the end of the month. But before he left the White House this morning, the president did make an announcement it's fair to say almost all voters will be extremely thankful for, and that is the ability if they choose to stop telephones from constantly ringing from unwanted solicitations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unwanted telemarketing calls are intrusive, they are annoying and they're all too common. When Americans are sitting down to dinner or a parent is reading to his or her child, the last thing they need is a call from a stranger with a sales pitch. So we're taking practical action to address this problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Judy, beginning on October 1, marketers will be required to take the numbers and the names of people who want them off the list off their list within three months. And it's expected to block some 80 percent of unwanted calls. And the FCC believes that 60 million people are expected to sign up for this. And when I asked the White House official why it was important enough for the president of the United States to announce, the answer was that he thought it was important. It was part of his budget, and it is obviously an issue that doesn't -- isn't likely to spark many partisan (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Judy.
WOODRUFF: All right. Dana Bash with the president in California. Obviously, a lot of people can't get to that phone number quick enough or to that Web site to sign themselves up. You can log on to cnn.com for more information about the do-not call registry and a link to the federal Web site where you, too, can sign up.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
