I think I speak for us all when I say, “WE HATE ROBOCALLS!” Which is why I’m happy to present news of Michigan’s Attorney General, Dana Nessel, urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to clarify policy requiring telemarketers to obtain consent from an individual and a specific seller/business entity before initiating robocalls and/or texts.
The FCC reached out on June 6th for comment and proposals concerning a intended amendment to its own rule on prior express written consent on this topic. Their intention is to strengthen protections against illegal (and unethical) marketing tactics.
As you may know, there is a lot of personal data floating around on the internet these days. Well, that is because this data is valuable and can help a business make money. A business can market to their target demographic by purchasing a plethora of web users’ contact information. This is not always done in an ethical manner. The Michigan Attorney General believes that Michiganders, and Americans for that matter, deserve the right to opt out of these harassing robocalls/texts. Often times, these marketing strategies are used by operations who lack interest in connecting with their customers. Instead, their intention may be to make any money they can, anywhere they can. The result of this marketing strategy is beaucoup amounts of unprompted automated calls or messages from unethical businesses.
The FCC’s proposed amendment aims to close a “lead generator loophole”. Lead generators are entities that harvest the consumer’s personal information to sell to whoever will pay for it. It’s an easy unethical cash grab. You know that if a company conceals its name from transparency, then it likely has some curious reasons to do so. “The FCC’s proposed amendment adds language to the existing rule to allow a consumer to consent to robocalls and texts from multiple entities, provided the entities are ‘logically and topically associated’ and are all listed on the webpage where the consumer provides consent.”
However, “The Attorneys General contend in their letter that the FCC’s proposed action could create more ambiguity and that clarification of existing single seller-to-individual consumer language would be more effective.” Meaning, the consumer should have control over the communication at all times. A good example is of email marketing. The consumer legally retains the right to subscribe and unsubscribe to a company’s marketing emails without obstacle. This is required of any email marketing, and also what qualifies an emailing strategy to be marketing or spamming/phishing attempts.
“Joining in the letter are Attorneys General from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.”
Remember! You can always write a letter to your representatives on any topic. Especially one that is currently on the political table.
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