A legislative solution

10/25/12

To Challenge post

Re: FTC Robo-call Solution Challenge

The Problem

Current FTC legislation regarding Robo-calls are ineffective as evidenced by the recent challenge to the public to come up with a solution to the problem. The ineffectiveness stems from a lack of participation by the public to report offenders in sufficient quantities to make robo-calling less attractive to marketers, combined with understaffing of regulators. My solution removes the ineffectiveness by correcting the current legislation on the books. The solution is elegant, pays for itself, needs no additional government or private employee personnel, nor any software or hardware purchase or installation.

The solution is to amend current anti robo-call legislation with an additional remedy that improves enforcement.

The Solution

The language of the current laws forbidding or limiting robo-calling are amended as follows:” In addition to the fines and penalties stated herein, all illegal robo-calls offering products or services will be considered a free offer of said products or services in their entirety. Robo-call recipients may accept any product or service offered during a robo-call. The recipient of a robo-call can gather the details as to who is making the offer and where the transaction is to be consummated in acceptance of the offer. Recipients of such calls are then entitled to take the information to small claims court and request that the judge grant them the product or service that was offered and agreed upon free of charge by way of the illegal nature of the unsolicited phone call. The court can also impose a court fee on the offender based on a small percentage of the value of the product or service, and can then forward the complaint to the FTC for further legal enforcement of the law’s fines and penalties.

The results

After an awareness campaign that informs the public of the law’s changes and implications, the following will occur: A company that currently does 10,000 robo-calls a week, in the hopes of getting 1 customer, will instead get up to 10,000 customers. But, all will be seeking the product or service for free in court, and the court, in addition to awarding the freebees, will also be forwarding the complaints to the proper authorities while benefiting from the additional subsidies of court fees.

Offenders will quickly cease the practice of illegal robo-calling.