[asterisk-biz] A DID question

[Matthew Rubenstein]

	No, I am not joking. And yes, I am talking about opt-in.

	The question is what process to use to demonstrate that people have
opted in? Is it enough to just ask otherwise anonymous people to assert
that they are person paying for the phone# they're specifying to be
called? Does that relationship have to be verified? Who's liable if it
conflicts with the Do Not Call registry? In short, what is a
demonstrated process for letting people opt-in to specify automated
calling to a phone#?

	Certainly a good lawyer could answer many of these questions. If
they've already been answered correctly and demonstrated in practice,
our community could benefit from that without each member paying the
cost redundantly.


On Mon, 2006-06-26 at 11:37 -0700, trixter aka Bret McDanel wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-06-26 at 12:52 -0400, Matthew Rubenstein wrote:
> > 	Opting into automated calls to a (PSTN) phone# has quite a few legal
> > restrictions and obligations. Where is a simple process for ensuring
> > compliance, at least when calls are US-only, or even just originated or
> > terminated in the US?
> > 
> 
> are you joking?
> 
> Ok, the way it works in the US is there are federal laws (both FTC and
> FCC), then you have state laws, which can add on top of the federal.
> Some states like california state you must follow their laws and get a
> permit (most telemarketers qualify) several days before your first call
> (10 I think) and that requires a $100k bond on top of that.  Further you
> must do this, according to the law, if either you call from or to
> california.  I would love to see em enforce that against a call center
> in india but meh that is what is written.
> 
> Its a legal quagmire, just knowing what the laws are gives you an
> edge.  
> 
> Further the do not call list isnt free (generally, there are
> exceptions), and its mandatory that you buy it (although it is illegal
> for the government to collect data like that and then charge to
> distribute it over the actual costs of duplicating it, I dont think the
> bandwidth costs $15k/year per person downloading).  And its illegal
> generally (although not entirely) to share this list.  But remember its
> not a tax becuase that would have a whole new process to get approved,
> this is a 'fee' which is different...
> 
> The FTC and FCC requires you to track abandoned calls (ie when no one
> picks up in a certain amount of time) and ensure that you never exceed a
> certain percentage.  
> 
> blah blah blah the list goes on.  If you are asking here, I STRONGLY
> suggest that you get a lawyer versed in this, because its a LOT of
> research that has to be done to ensure that you have all the permits,
> bonds, etc.
> 
> Now *MOST* of this goes away if you have a prior business relationship.
> So if its truely an opt-in list, generally you dont have to do anything,
> just call.
> 
> And yes I am trying to discourage people from calling unsolicited :)
> 
> 
-- 

(C) Matthew Rubenstein