It’s time to “provide clarity” on the Telephone...
It’s time to “provide clarity” on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said in a blog post Tuesday (http://fcc.us/1ixwgDA). The TCPA, which restricts automated telemarketing calls, has been a “general success,” O'Rielly said, but over time the…
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rules have become “complex and unclear” after new agency and judicial interpretations and changing business models. “The rules are creating situations where consumers might not receive notifications and offers that they want and expect, and where new and innovative services and applications that help friends and family members communicate with each other could be restricted,” O'Rielly said, pointing to lawsuits and a growing backlog of FCC petitions as evidence of the problem. “There are several dozen petitions asking the FCC to declare or clarify that a particular service or method of communicating would comply with the TCPA. It is very troubling that legitimate companies feel they have to ask the government for its blessing every time they need to make a business decision in order to avoid litigation,” he said. “The FCC needs to address this inventory of petitions as soon as possible.”