"Donald E. Kimberlin" <0004133373@mcimail.com> (04/25/91)
Numerous posts in the Digest have addressed several aspects of
telemarketing sleaze. Not the least of these has been the auto-dialing
type. The following story, a bit belatedly reproduced here, tells how
North Carolina has taken some steps to just plain shut them down.
From the <Charlotte Observer> (called by some the "Disturber", April
13, 1991, page D-1:
"N.C. TO CRACK DOWN ON AUTO-DIALER CALLS
"RALEIGH - The state is cracking down on the illegal use of
telephone auto-dialers after numerous compalints about the machinYs,
Attorney General Lacy Thornburg said Friday." (4/12)
"`It's time to stop illegal intrusions into our family lives and
businesses,' said Thornburg.
"The machines automatically dial telephone numbers and play a
recorded message when phones are answered. They are typically used to
market goods and services or to entice telephone users to makes costly
calls to 1-900 numbers.
"Under N.C. law it is a misdemeanor to use auto-dialers to market
goods and services for profit. Exceptions are made for civic,
charitable and political organizations, for media polls and for use of
auto-dailers with a live operator who must first ask permission before
playing the recorded message.
"Thornburg said his office had received complaints from businesses
and state agencies, whose phone lines have been overwhelmed by
auto-dialer calls."
...The article, of course written and printed in a newspaper, does not
indicate if N.C. law includes the exemption for newspapers found in
other states. It would be interesting to see if they tried to call
their telemarketing sleaze "media polls" so they could operate in the
manner of John Higdon's favorite sleazoid, his <San Jose Mercury>.