WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is banning phone calls of
prerecorded sales messages unless consumers agree to receive the
calls. The ban becomes effective September 1st of next year.
The FTC has also announced that by December all prerecorded
calls must provide an opt-out selection to make it easy for
consumers to stop getting those calls.
The agency says the rules won't affect informational prerecorded
messages, such as messages to notify consumers of appointments and
cancellations, because they don't attempt to sell goods or
services.
The FTC says there were more than 13,000 consumers comments that
objected to the telemarketing industry's request to gain more
flexibility to make recorded sales calls.
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(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)