Tired of receiving “robocalls?” Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission approved new rules to further limit automatically dialed or prerecorded calls and automated text messages.
Under the new requirements, telemarketers must obtain written permission from all residential telephone subscribers to receive prerecorded calls. Previously, only residential subscribers on the National Do Not Call registry had this protection.
In addition, the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule already prohibits many telemarketers from making robocalls to residential subscribers without prior written consent. The FCC’s action would expand the ban on calling residential subscribers not on the Do Not Call registry to entities the FCC regulates but that fall outside the FTC’s jurisdiction, such as banks and common carriers.
Remember that calls by or on behalf of tax-exempt non-profit organizations, for political purposes and for other noncommercial purposes, including those that deliver purely informational messages, will still not be covered by the robocall rule.
Consumers can sue companies who violate these rules, but the first line of defense against any call is registering a phone number on the do-not-call list.
