Monday, January 15, 2007

Protecting Your Privacy - Part II

From my weekly (AM) radio segment titled "Legal Minute".


When E.T. phoned home, it was cute. When telemarketers phone home, it’s downright annoying. To avoid receiving unwanted calls, registering on a National Do Not Call List or a Do Not Call Registry sounds appealing. However, if we receive calls about either of these programs then they are definitely scams as confirmed by the FTC. Recently, the FTC amended the Telemarketing Sales Rule to give consumers more control over the calls they receive at home. Under the amended Rule, the FTC is creating a National Do Not Call Registry and that is the only legitimate registry out there to combat intrusive callers. The FTC has never hired any private companies to engage in calling consumers about the registry. So, we must be wary of the scams. The only safe procedure by which to ensure that we will not receive unwanted calls is to visit the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry located at www.donotcall.gov. The site is available in English and Spanish and we can register both our home and cell phone numbers.