off-topic: phone hangups

[Paul]

For Missouri residents to register for Missouri No Call:
http://www.ago.state.mo.us/nocalllaw.htm

YOU can make $500 or more per each violation of the TCPA. The TCPA gives
you the legal right to penalize telemarketing companies. There are a few
web sites that explain in detail how to do this. I've thought about it,
but just being polite and asking to be removed from the No Call List has
actually worked out for me.

Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act was passed in 1991. The Federal
Communications Commission the rules and regulations implementing the act
went into effect on December 20, 1992. A court challenge to parts of the
act ultimately failed. 
>From a telephone marketer's viewpoint, the most significant part of the
TCPA regulations concern commercial solicitation calls made to
residences. Those making the calls are required to: 

Limit the calls to the period between 8 A.M. and 9 P.M.

Maintain a "do not call list" and honor any request to not be called
again. When such a request is received, the requester may not be called
again on behalf of the business for whom the solicitation is made. One
error is allowed in a twelve month period. Subsequently, the soliciting
companies are subject to penalties. A person's name must be kept on the
"do not call list" indefinitely.

Have a clearly written policy, available to anyone upon request. 

Have a clearly defined training program for their personnel making the
telephone solicitations. 

If you are a service bureau, forward all requests to be removed from a
list to the company on whose behalf you are calling. Its is that company
that is legally liable under the TCPA, not the service bureau. The "do
not call" request must also be honored by any affiliate or subsidiary of
the company if there is a reasonable expectation on the part of the
consumer that there request would apply also to the affiliate or
subsidiary.

A call is exempt from the TCPA if the call:

Is made on behalf of a tax-exempt nonprofit organization.

Is not made for a commercial purpose.

Does not include an unsolicited advertisement, even if it is made for a
commercial purpose.

Is made to a consumer with whom the calling company has an established
business relationship. This relationship cannot be established merely by
having made a prior solicitation call. The customer ends this exemption
when he or her requests that no more calls be made.

Other important provisions of the TCPA include: 
A ban on autodialers and artificial or prerecorded voice messages
programmed to call any emergency phone lines (including 911 numbers,
hospital emergency lines, physicians or medical service lines, health
care facilities, poison control centers, fire protection or law
enforcement agencies), pagers or cellular phones, or a call for which a
charge is made to the calling party. 
A prohibition against the use of artificial or prerecorded voice
messages to call a residence except in cases of emergency or if the
caller has received prior express consent. (Such calls to businesses are
not prohibited.) 
A prohibition against the use of an autodialer to engage two or more
lines of a multi-line business. 
A requirement that anyone using an autodialer or an artificial or
prerecorded voice message to call any number state the identity of the
caller at the beginning of the message and give the address and phone
number of the caller during the call. 
A ban on sending unsolicited advertisements by fax to anyone without
prior express consent. A prior business relationship is considered
consent unless the recipient of the fax withdraws that consent. (This
provision was unsuccessfully challenged in federal court.) 
The TCPA can be enforced in at least three different ways: 
The individual who receives a call after a name removal request has been
given to the caller is granted a private right of action in a local
court and may sue for $500 in damages for each violation. In some cases,
the courts can levy triple damages. Similar suits may be filed for
violations of the TCPA's provisions regarding faxes, autodialers, and
artificial or prerecorded messages. 
States may initiate civil action against offending companies on behalf
of their citizens. 
Complaints may be filed with the Federal Communications Commission,
which has the power to assess penalties against parties in violation of
the TCPA.