• by Ken Liebeskind , April 9, 2002

The Direct Marketing Association operates a do-not-call list. So do 20 different U.S. states. Now the federal government may get involved with the Federal Trade Commission proposing a centralized national do-not-call registry. The registry is one element of the FTC's proposal to modify the Telemarketing Sales Rule, which protects consumers from unwanted and late night telemarketing calls.

Under the FTC's proposal, "it would be illegal for telemarketers to call consumers who place their phone numbers on the national registry," says Howard Beales, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

It sounds like a good idea, but it's not so easy to do. After the FTC published the proposal in the Federal Register in January, a public comment period followed, which continues through April 15. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington D.C. based policy analysis organization "dedicated to the principles of limited constitutional government and free enterprise" has opposed the proposal, because it doesn't believe the federal government should intervene in the matter. It filed comments in the proceedings with the FTC.

Solveig Singleton, a senior analyst at CEI, opposes what she calls a "one size fits all federal solution that will replace all private sector solutions." She says private industry has developed services and technology that helps people control unwanted calls, including Privacy Manager, TeleZappers and the Phone Butler. "If the FTC becomes too involved it will destroy private sector solutions," she says.

"Our goal is to make the FTC realize that when they take action in this area, they're moving into a competitive area with private business. It's not a good idea for government, since they're less efficient than the private sector and they don't allow for any competition."

As an institution devoted to protecting the private sector from unwanted government interference, CEI opposed the FTC's proposal. It remains to be seen what other interference the FTC may receive in its attempts to regulate telemarketing.