Court lets ‘do-not-call’ list go forward.
In this fast-paced world, I have to admit that having dinner with my family is sacred time. During dinnertime, the last thing we want is a seemingly endless, annoying barrage of telemarketing calls. We never really had a problem until we moved from the city to the suburbs and got on every credit card list known to man due to our new mortgage. Our name and phone number spread like a bad computer virus. We got 3-4 calls a night for the first few months. The worst calls were the computer-dialed ones which left long-winded messages on our answering machine. So when www.donotcall.gov became available, we were one of the first to sign up. 51 million numbers have been registered since then.
The Telemarketing Services Association is claiming that the registry is a violation of their free speech. I say screw their free speech. The telemarketers’ calls are an obvious invasion of our privacy. I am glad that the judges had the sense to rule in favor of our personal privacy over the telemarketers’ economic interests. Yes, there are exclusions as to who can call, but shouldn’t everyone have the right to a sacred family dinner? Who knows what will happen in the appeal by the telemarketers, but it is satisfying to know that one day in the not too distant future, there just may be no more annoying calls. Now how about that anti-spam list?
