Telemarketing

On May 10, 2024, a divided Second Circuit panel held that a device that merely selects and dials numbers from a stored list does not constitute an “automatic telephone dialing systems” (ATDS) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).  The panel observed in Soliman v. Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust Ltd. that its holding…

Continue Reading Second Circuit: a Device that Dials from a Stored List Is Not an “ATDS” under the TCPA

On March 25, 2024, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed into law LD 2234, which amends the state’s telephone solicitation statute to prohibit telephone solicitors from “fail[ing] to use the reassigned numbers database to verify that a consumer’s telephone number has not been reassigned prior to initiating a telephone sales call to that consumer.”  The bill defines “reassigned numbers database” as the “database created and maintained by the Federal Communications Commission that identifies whether a telephone number has been reassigned.”Continue Reading Maine Enacts New Telemarketing Law Requiring Use of FCC Reassigned Numbers Database

On March 7, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced amendments to its Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”) to apply certain of its provisions to business-to-business telemarketing calls, and to broaden its recordkeeping requirements.  The FTC also announced a notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) that would further extend the TSR to cover inbound telemarketing calls involving technical support services. Continue Reading FTC Amends its Telemarketing Sales Rule; Proposes Additional Changes

Updated October 14, 2024.  Originally posted February 26, 2024.

On February 15, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) adopted new consent revocation rules for robocalls and robotexts, which the FCC defined as calls made using an “automatic telephone dialing system” or an artificial or prerecorded voice.  Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) and the FCC’s implementing rules, callers and texters must obtain “prior express consent” or “prior express written consent,” depending on the call/text content, from consumers to send such communications absent an applicable exemption. 

According to the Order, the new rules “clarify and strengthen consumers’ rights under the TCPA to grant and revoke consent to receive robocalls and robotexts.”  Specifically, the adopted rules (1) “make clearer that revocation of consent can be made in any reasonable manner;” (2) “require that callers honor do-not-call and consent revocation requests as soon as practicable” and within 10 business days of receipt; and (3) “limit text senders to a one-time text message confirming a consumer’s request that no further text messages be sent.”  

The effective date of the rules is April 11, 2025.  We summarize these new requirements below.Continue Reading FCC Adopts New TCPA Consent Revocation Rules

On February 8, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a declaratory ruling stating that Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) restrictions on making phone calls using an “artificial or prerecorded voice” “encompass current AI technologies that generate human voices.”  Therefore, unless an exemption applies, telemarketing calls using an artificial or prerecorded voice simulated or generated…

Continue Reading FCC Confirms TCPA “Artificial or Prerecorded Voice” Restrictions Apply to AI Technologies that Generate Human Voices

On February 6, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) announced that it had sent a letter to Lingo Telecom, LLC (“Lingo”) to demand that Lingo “immediately stop supporting unlawful robocall traffic on its networks.”  As background, Lingo is a Texas-based telecommunications provider that, according to the FCC’s letter, was the originating provider for “deepfake” calls made by Life Corp. to New Hampshire voters on January 21, 2024.  The calls, which imitated President Biden’s voice and falsified caller ID information, took place two days before the New Hampshire presidential primary and reportedly advised Democratic voters to refrain from voting in the primary.  Continue Reading FCC Issues Cease-and-Desist Letter Regarding Robocalls Made Before New Hampshire Primary

This blog post summarizes recent telemarketing developments emerging at the federal level and from Missouri, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

Federal Legislation

On January 29, 2024, Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced H.R. 7116, the “Do Not Disturb Act.”  A press release accompanying the bill’s introduction stated that Congressman Pallone introduced the bill “to protect consumers from the bombardment of dangerous and unwanted calls and texts that have been exacerbated by the Supreme Court’s decision in Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid . . .”  If enacted, the bill would, among other things, do the following:Continue Reading Federal and State Telemarketing Legislative Updates

On October 16, 2023, a group of Wisconsin state senators introduced S.B. 531, which would amend the state’s telephone solicitation statute to create new restrictions on “caller identification records,” which the bill defines in relevant part as “a record that is delivered electronically to the recipient of a telephone call or text message . . . that indicates the telephone number from which the telephone call or text message was initiated or similar information . . .”

If enacted, the bill would prohibit a person from “knowingly transmit[ing] a misleading or inaccurate caller identification record through a telephone call or text message with the intent to defraud or wrongfully obtain anything of value, including personally identifiable information.” Continue Reading Anti-Spoofing Caller ID Bill Introduced in Wisconsin