Wireline Report

The Wireline Report

Latest News on Telemarketing

By Salvatore Taillefer, Partner, Blooston Law (sta@bloostonlaw.com)

FTC Proposes Enhancements to Telemarketing Sales Rule At its April Open Meeting, the FTC adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing amendments to the Telemarketing Sales rule. Comment and reply comment deadlines have not yet been established.

The Telemarketing Sales rule applies to any plan, program, or campaign to get consumers to purchase products or services by use of one or more telephone and more than one interstate telephone call. To the extent alarm industry members are soliciting via telephone calls, the following questions on which the FTC seeks comment may have some relevance:

• Whether the FTC should amend the rule’s record-keeping provisions to require telemarketers

to retain information in seven new categories, such as keeping recordings of robocalls. • Whether the rule should require telemarketers to provide consumers with a simple notice and cancellation, such as click-to-cancel, when they sign up for subscription plans; and • Whether the Telemarketing Sales

Rule broadly should stop treating telemarketing calls made to businesses differently from those made to consumers. Generally, such calls currently are exempt from certain provisions of the rule.

In particular, additional record-keeping of ongoing sales efforts may be onerous and expensive to implement, and the elimination of the so-called business-tobusiness exemptions may create a need to expand existing systems. Parties Agree to Dismiss California Net Neutrality Challenge On May 4, the ACA, CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom entered into a joint stipulation with the attorney general of California dismissing the case challenging California’s 2018 net neutrality law in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. With this, the challenge to the law is formally terminated.

The California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018, or SB-822, essentially codifi es the Net Neutrality rules that were repealed at the end of 2017. These rules regulated broadband Internet access service and added protections for consumers, including alarm companies, in the form of prohibitions on blocking or throttling traffi c and other discriminatory practices. SB-822 opens the door for other states to follow suit where the FCC has declined to act.

The decision to dismiss the case comes after an order by the Ninth Circuit in January denying a motion for preliminary injunction against the enforcement of SB-822.

Pricing Changes for Reassigned Numbers Database; Guidance on Safe Harbor On April 8, the FCC announced that it is improving its Reassigned Numbers Database by updating its subscriber rate structure to support access by callers so they can avoid making unwanted calls and clarifi ed its safe harbor rules to encourage the use of the database. Specifi cally, the FCC recently approved