Washington — The Federal Trade Commission plans to propose today new rules for reducing the annoyance of unwanted telephone solicitations as it begins to push for the establishment of a national "do-not-call" registry.
With a registry, people could make a single call to get their names removed from many telemarketing lists. The agency is also expected to propose that telemarketers be barred from blocking any identifying information from caller-ID equipment so people could know who is calling.
If approved, the rules could be in place in a year. But first they would be subject to public comment, and the Direct Marketing Assn. has signaled its strong opposition.
"We think it is an inappropriate role for the government to spend taxpayer dollars to limit communication to people," said H. Robert Wientzen, the DMA's president and chief executive. "We think that communication is protected by the constitutional right to free speech."
Wientzen added that his organization maintains a voluntary do-not-call list for which 4.1 million Americans have signed up, requesting that they not be called.
"We already have a system in place that has been working very nicely for over 25 years," he said.
Most companies adhere to requests not to be called because it's good business, he said: "Marketers don't want to call people who don't want to be called."
The FTC's action comes as people increasingly complain about dinnertime and weekend interruptions.
Robert Kerns of Arlington, Va., said he and his wife have grown so tired of the calls that they are signing up for a $5-a-month service to block incoming phone calls from people they don't know. Callers will be required to give their names in order for the calls to go through to his new home.
FTC officials declined to discuss details of the agency's proposals, but in previous speeches, FTC Chairman Timothy Muris has made it clear that he supported a national, one-stop do-not-call list.
Muris said he envisioned a single toll-free number that people could call to opt out of solicitation lists.
Sources said telemarketers who ignored the list could be fined up to $11,000 per violation.
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