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(TV) Campaign robo-calls exempt from Do Not Call Registry

(KOMO TV 4)Link to article and video here.


Even if your phone number is on the Do Not Call registry, get ready for more calls from strangers who want your attention.

Despite protection from the National Do Not Call Registry, telemarketers are making millions of robotic calls with recorded messages. As of September 2009, robo-calls are prohibited unless you have given the telemarketer your permission in writing saying you want to receive the calls.

But virtually everyone hates them. And people say they especially resent robo calls from politicians or their campaigns. But like it or not, politicians are robo-calling away because politicians do not have to follow the Do Not Call regulations as part of their constitutional right to free speech.

The federal law exempts informational notifications such as school closures and medical appointments, non-sale debt collection, charitable organizations, public opinion polls and surveys, as well as politicians.

The only viable options for people who are annoyed by the political robo-calls are to just hang up, or delete the voice mail. But a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C. offers a third option to help people send a message.

StopPoliticalCalls.org offers a nonprofit, and "non-partisan" website with its own Political Do Not Contact Registry aimed at getting politicians to take you off their contact lists. It's the brainchild of Shaun Dakin, CEO and founder of Citizens for Civil Discourse.

There's just one catch: the Political Do Not Contact Registry is strictly voluntary on the part of the politicians. Dakin reports 160,000 consumers have registered to be removed from political contact lists, but right now only four politicians- two in Arizona and two in Georgia - have agreed to abide to the registry.

As for those illegal robo-calls from companies trying to sell you something, get their name or number and report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Federal investigators continue to gather information that helps them go after the violators.