One Judge Sics Telemarketers on 50 Million Americans

Sept. 24, 2003

If you were one of the 50 million Americans who flooded the Federal Trade Commission with a request to be on the national do-not-call list, tough luck. Some federal judge in Oklahoma has decided to let telemarketers pester you during supper.

The list was supposed to take effect next week, but Judge Lee West of Oklahoma City claims that the Federal Trade Commission lacked authority to develop the list.

Although Congress gave the agency funding for the list, it did not give the FTC the power to implement the list, West said. An administrative agency's power to regulate in the public interest must "always be grounded in a valid grant of authority from Congress," he said. Furthermore, he says the Federal Communications Commission should be in charge of any such list.

"This decision is clearly incorrect," FTC Chairman Timothy Muris said today. "We will seek every recourse to give American consumers a choice to stop unwanted telemarketing calls."

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., today predicted the ruling would be overturned.

"Contrary to the court's decision, we firmly believe Congress gave the FTC authority to implement the national do-not-call list," they said in a statement. "We will continue to monitor the situation and will take whatever legislative action is necessary to ensure consumers can stop intrusive calls from unwanted telemarketers."

The pest industry has been agitating to kill the registry. Direct Marketing Association said it was happy with the ruling, even though it claimed it "acknowledges the wishes of millions of U.S. consumers who have expressed their preferences not to receive telephone-marketing solicitations — as evidenced by the millions of phone numbers registered on the FTC list."

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/9/24/142328.shtml