Panel OKs altering Idaho's 'Do Not Call' law
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A House committee agreed Idaho should lift a 13-year-old restriction barring phone and cable TV companies from calling existing customers to market new products or services.
The House State Affairs Committee voted unanimously Thursday to send the measure altering Idaho's "Do Not Call" law to the House floor.
Phone companies Frontier Communications and Century Link Inc. aim to revamp Idaho's 2000 law meant to halt unwanted phone solicitation, arguing they should have the same rights to call existing customers as other businesses enjoy.
They want to market services like high-speed Internet over the phone, rather than being forced to do it by mail.
The attorney general's office opposed the proposed change, arguing a million people already on Idaho's Do Not Call list don't want changes that could increase privacy intrusions.
The House State Affairs Committee voted unanimously Thursday to send the measure altering Idaho's "Do Not Call" law to the House floor.
Phone companies Frontier Communications and Century Link Inc. aim to revamp Idaho's 2000 law meant to halt unwanted phone solicitation, arguing they should have the same rights to call existing customers as other businesses enjoy.
They want to market services like high-speed Internet over the phone, rather than being forced to do it by mail.
The attorney general's office opposed the proposed change, arguing a million people already on Idaho's Do Not Call list don't want changes that could increase privacy intrusions.
I wish the paper would have put the idiots names on the committee that sent this to the floor.  However since it was ALL of them I guess that means they should all be kicked out of office for being too stupid to hold their position.  Phone solicitation should be illegal ... PERIOD.
You have no idea how many machine generated cold-calls will be generated by the myriad of advertisers if this actually passes. Prior to Do Not Call regulation these calls came at all hours of the day and night. Most calls will be pre-recorded messages with a "Press One For A Real Person" statement after the message. If the calls are allowed, there will be no requirement for the calling company to provide an opt-out by pressing a number, so you will not be able to stop the calls.
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While the Federally mandated Do Not Call system is still in place, their Do Not Call organization has been moved from an independent department to a subsidiary of the Federal Trade Commission. Under the FTC this group is toothless and non-functional.Â
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Several years ago Idaho AG told us that they were no longer handling Do Not Call violations in Idaho, and that we should report these calls to the Federal Do Not Call agency. That once seemed to work for a while, but now is mostly neutered and toothless. The only option now for stopping harassment calls is to report them to the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC will follow up on these complaints, but it takes several months. If Idaho does open the door to unwanted advertisement calls, our only avenue of relief will then be to report the callers to the FCC for investigation and possible prosecution as violations of the Telecommunications Act and as Telephone Harassment.Â