Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

FTC Wants to Establish a National 'Do Not Call' Registry

Aired January 25, 2002 - 09:18   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now the Federal Trade Commission wants to establish a national "do not call" registry to protect those of you who don't to be bothered, but the industry says the government is out of bounds with this latest proposal, because it's mandatory.

Just yesterday, I spoke with Bob Wientzen, president of the Direct Marketing Association, and the FTC's Howard Beales about this hot button issue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: Mr. Beales, I'd like to start off this morning by reading you an e-mail we got from one of our viewers, a man named John Swank of Fresno, California.

He writes, "The American public should be able to police their own telephone calls. We should let the government concentrate on terrorism, national security and other issues. An answering machine will screen them."

Now don't these callers have a First Amendment right to make these calls, and why do you need the government to regulate this?

J. HOWARD BEALES, FTC: Well, we don't think there's a First Amendment issue here. What we are trying to do is give consumers the right to make the choice for themselves and make that choice enforceable. Right now, telemarketers can continue to call, and it can be very disruptive. I would just add, in the first 24 hours after we had announced this proposal, we got more than 1,500 online comments that were overwhelmingly favorable toward the idea of national "do not call" list.

ZAHN: Any people indicate they were fearful that callers would still penetrate that list?

BEALES: Well, I'm sure if there's a concern, I think that is the concern. We can reach most telemarketing calls, but because of the limits of our jurisdiction, we can't reach absolutely everything.

ZAHN: Now, Mr. Wientzen, I'd like to share with you an e-mail with you that certainly contrasts with what I just read to our fellow guest here. He says, "I am a cancer patient that is sick a lot. I stay home most of the time trying to get some much needed rest. This rest is regularly interrupted by telemarketers, who I constantly ask to please not call me anymore." That's Bunch from Darlington, South Carolina.

What do you say to someone like that?

BOB WIENTZEN, DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION: Well, Paula, we certainly agree that any individual has the right to say, I don't want to be bothered, I don't want any phone calls. For 17 year, the Direct Marketing Association has a list of people. About 4 1/2 million or 4 1/4 million people already on that list. And we can exclude that gentleman from about 80 percent of the calls he would ordinary get. Politicians, some nonprofits and local callers oftentimes do not use that list, but for the most part, we will eliminate those phone calls from anyone who doesn't want to receive them.

ZAHN: Are you telling us this morning you don't need this additional registry?

WIENTZEN: We are saying that we think that while the FTC's goal of providing choice to consumer is appropriate. We support that. We think it's inappropriate role for government, one that the private sector is already engaged in. And if there are some issues of fine tuning, what we do we're happy to talk to the FTC about that. Frankly, we don't see as appropriate role for government to spend tax money on.

ZAHN: Mr. Beales, could you have fine tuned that?

BEALES: Well, we really appreciate what DMA has done. It's been useful. We think are two key differences between our proposal and the existing registry. One is our proposal would be mandatory. It would be a violation of federal law for people to make calls, and sanctions more severe than being kicked out of the DMA. Second, I think easier for consumers to sign up.

ZAHN: Gentlemen, where does this go from here? Is this a done deal, or is there a legal fight we will talk about here?

WIENTZEN: Paula, we think that while we applaud the FTC's effort to look at the entire spectrum of telemarketing services, there's things that need to be done. We are certainly willing to make some changes and to help the FTC improve consumer choice and so forth. We really do believe that the devil will be in the details here, and this is a far more complex question than I think most people recognize.

ZAHN: Mr. Beales, a final thought for us.

WIENTZEN: We are beginning a rule-making process. We're looking forward to input from the DMA and other affected parties, as well as from consumers, to try to figure out the best possible solution for consumers here.

ZAHN: And we'll be keeping our eyes on both camps from here on AMERICAN MORNING. Bob Wientzen, thank you for your time, and J. Howard Beales, yours as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com