A "do not call" list for politicians


The new “do not call” list for telemarketers is immensely popular. But why are politicians exempt?

The new national “do not call” list, a service for blocking telemarketing calls, has already registered over 17 million phone numbers. The Federal Trade Commission is expecting up to 60 million numbers to be registered in the first year, a significant chunk of the 166 million home phone numbers and 147 million cell phone numbers. Everyone loves to hate telemarkers, but is the FTC list really a good idea?

While I too dislike those annoying phone calls that always seem to come at the most inconvenient possible moment, I’m not convinced that this was a crisis worthy of government intervention. Free market solutions, such as “call intercept” services are a more targeted, fairer way to solve the problem than the heavy bludgeon of federal regulations. In particular, the fines for calling listed numbers, up to $11,000 per violation, seem excessive. Yes, my time is valuable, but it’s not that valuable. Not that I feel enormous sympathy for the telemarketing industry’s claims that the list will cut its business in half. Since I’ve never bought a thing from a telemarketer, I don’t see how not calling me would cut into their profits -- in fact, they should be grateful that I’ve told them not to waste their precious time dialing my number. On the other hand, the industry’s estimates of lost sales probably reflects the fact that a lot of people who signed onto the list actually do buy stuff from telemarketers. Unable to “just say no,” they’ve recruited the government to do it for them. I’m not too sympathetic to these folks either.

But there’s one minor improvement to this program we may all be able to agree upon. You see, there are certain exemptions from the “do not call” list. Reasonably enough, the telemarketing companies can call people on the list if these people have bought or made inquiries about the companies products recently. Charities and pollsters are still allowed to call numbers from the list. And also included on the list of exemptions, are “calls on behalf of politicians.”

Now you can “call” me cynical, but I’d be willing to bet that if you gave the American people the option, millions of them would sign up for a “do not call” list that blocked all communcations originating from politicians. I believe I speak for many of my fellow citizens when I say, no, I don’t care about your latest initiative to save the endangered orange-spotted cabbage looper, I don’t want to hear about how your opponent plans to steal Grandma’s pension, starve the children, and poison our apple pies, and , and I certainly don’t want to contribute money to your re-election campaign. Yet for some bizarre reason, I’ve been denied the opportunity to let the FTC know of my preferences in this respect.

It must be an oversight. I’m sure, once it’s pointed out, our Congressmen who passed the law setting up the “do not call” list will realize that if the noble cause of American telephonic privacy requires sacrifices from us all. If the telemarketing industry must risk its profit margins, Congressmen must risk losing their seats. Right? Right?

Posted: Tue - July 8, 2003 at 07:41 PM      

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