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Attorney General Lynn Fitch joined a bipartisan coalition of State Attorneys General in supporting an update to telemarketing rules to better protect consumers from scams and unwanted calls. The Attorneys General submitted comments to an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by the Federal Trade Commission on revisions to the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
“Technology and marketing techniques have outpaced the regulation, allowing scammers to use telemarketing to increasingly intrude on our privacy and gain access that helps them defraud innocent consumers,” said Attorney General Lynn Fitch. “As the FTC has left the recordkeeping requirements of the Telemarketing Sales Rule largely untouched since 1995, our efforts to protect consumers have been hampered. These updates will help us fight back.”
The Attorneys General submitted two comment letters, each relating to different parts of the Telemarketing Sales Rule:
- 43 Attorneys General asked for better recordkeeping requirements for telemarketers. Current restrictions, limiting recordkeeping typically to only two years and leaving out essential information. As a result, when Attorneys General subpoena information or prosecute fraud, the information they require has often been lost. The Attorneys General seek to expand the type of information retained and to extend the typical recordkeeping retention to five years.
- 39 Attorneys General sought to address the increasing use of “negative option” telemarketing. This is a tactic where consumers are defaulted to the option that is not always in their best interest. For example, the consumer might be signed up for a recurring payment without explicitly authorizing it. The AGs seek to put the burden back on the telemarketer and require informed consent from consumers.
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