Introductory statement by Senator Hollings on the AUTOMATED TELEPHONE CALL PROTECTION ACT OF 1991 - S1462 :
"Mr. President, today I am introducing the Automated Telephone Call Protection Act of 1991. This bill will ban computerized telephone calls to the home and so-called junk fax. Computerized calls are the scourge of modern civilization. They wake us up in the morning; they interrupt our dinner at night; they force the sick and elderly out of bed; they hound us until we want to rip the telephone right out of the wall."
From the Oct. 8, 1991 Senate Report 102-178 (1991):
"The costs of telemarketing have fallen even more with the advent of automatic dialer recorded message players (ADRMPs) or automatic dialing and announcing devices (ADADs). These machines automatically dial a telephone number and deliver to the called party an artificial or prerecorded voice message. Certain data indicate that the machines are used by more than 180,000 solicitors to call more than 7 million Americans every day. Each ADRMP has the capacity to dial as many of 1,000 telephone numbers each day."
137 Cong. Rec S16204-01 (1991):
"These machines are out of control, and their use is growing by 30 percent every year. It is telephone terrorism and it has got to stop."
That was 10 years ago. Today 100 million Americans are receiving unsolicited telephone calls every day. A large percentage of those unsolicited telephone calls are prerecorded telephone solicitations. Despite a law prohibiting prerecorded telephone solicitations to residential telephone line subscribers without prior express consent or prior existing business relationship, these prerecorded telephone solicitations continue at an epidemic rate.
47 USC § 227 (b)(1)(B) to initiate any telephone call to any residential telephone line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without the prior express consent of the called party, unless the call is initiated for emergency purposes or is exempted by rule or order by the Commission under paragraph (2)(B);Entities that initiate prerecorded telephone solicitations to residential telephone line subscribers are fully aware of this law. To them the cost of being sued is outweighed by the profit they can make from the calls. They know that out of 10,000 calls only 10 will garner a response. But to them that 0.1 percent response is earned without the backlash of the recipients of such calls. It is the consumer that has been tasked by the legislature to enforce the law. We must enforce the law - otherwise these prerecorded telephone solicitations will ultimately make the public telephone system useless as a medium to communicate.47 CFR 64.1200 (a)(2) Initiate any telephone call to any residential telephone line using an artificial or prerecorded voice to deliver a message without the prior express consent of the called party, unless the call is initiated for emergency purposes or is exempted by Sec. 64.1200(c) of this section.
As a defense to a law suit, most entities attempt to disguise the prerecorded call as not being made for a commercial purpose or not containing an unsolicited advertisement. The term "free" is used often. As a noted attorney once said: "If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck and walks like a duck than it is a duck!"
47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(4); 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(f)(5) “any material advertising the commercial availability or quality of any property, goods, or services which is transmitted to any person without that person’s prior express invitation or permission”As one can see from the above, those free satellite systems, free alarm systems, free insurance quotes, and free home mortgage loan quotes are NOT exempted from the law! These prerecorded telephone solicitations are not for humanitarian reasons - their purpose is profit.
Unsolicited Commercial E-mail will be dealt with accordingly!
Last update 05/28/02