US firms fined for violating Do Not Call List
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- With Canada’s continuing Do Not Call List debacle in mind, Central Florida Investments, Westgate Resorts and CFI Sales & Marketing have been ordered to pay almost $1.2 million for violations of the US Do Not Call Rule.
Two groups of defendants that offer vacation and timeshare companies will pay the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) a total of nearly $1.2 million, stemming from their violations of the Do Not Call Rule.
In addition, “All In One Vacation Club, LLC, Accumen Management Services, Inc., and their principals (collectively, the All In One Vacation Club defendants) will pay $275,000,” says Directmag.com.
According to the FTC, “the Westgate defendants bought phone numbers from an Internet-based lead generator that collected contact information in connection with offering an array of free and discounted products to consumers on its Brandarama.com Web site,” says the story.
But that wouldn’t be a problem in Canada.
All telemarketeers have to do is pay a nominal fee to the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission), which is in charge of Canada’s version.
It’ll then hand over the full, and up-to-date, list so telemarketeers can use it to barrage people with unwanted and un-asked for telephone marketing calls.
And among the unsolicited phone spams might be something from Bell Canada AIC 18777670751.
‘if voicemail picks up, no message’
“For the last couple of months, I’ve been receiving calls from Bell’s contracted telemarketers, AIC Global,” said Devil’s Advocate in a post which partially woke up the lamescream media here.
“(The number shows up on the display as ‘Bell Canada AIC’ 18777670751.),” he went on. “I’ve yet to actually pick it up and as a result, this number has continued to ring me every day, at least three times a day, for the last few months.”
And indeed, AIC (AIC Global) has been at it on Bell’s behalf since at least 2007.
“Received a call from ‘Alliance’ that is calling on behalf of Bell and trying to sell some additional phone services,” said a 2007 post on 800notes. “Asked them to put my number on their do not call list.”
“They do not say anything just stay on line for 30 seconds then try to hang up,” said another, and, “Same thing here, stay on the line about 30s to 1 min and hang up, if voicemail picks up, no message,” says a third. “It’s been calling me about 3 times a week.”
A fourth poster says, “Same here, but more than 5 times in a week.”
Not even a slap on the wrist
In the US, Comcast was ordered by the Federal Communications Commission to halt its practice of stopping its customers from sharing videos and other files online under what it disingenuously called a ‘traffic management’ scheme.
It was also told to explain exactly how it went about ‘managing’ its Net traffic.
In Canada, Bell Canada is currently getting away with doing exactly the same thing without a murmur from the federal government. Or anyone else.
It hasn’t even received a slap on the wrist and it still able to continue claiming it isn’t doing anything wrong.
But with companies in the US being fined substantial amounts for violating Do Not Call rules, will Canadian transgressors, with Bell right up front, now be similarly charged?
You must be joking. Bell does whatever it wants, whenever it wants to do it.
But if you want to contact someone, contact industry minister Tony Clements (top right) who told the Globe and Mail, “An abuse of the do-not-call list is unconscionable, not to mention illegal, and I sympathize with those Canadians who are being harassed by unscrupulous telemarketers.”
Stay tuned. Because even if the Clements won’t act on behalf of the people who put him power, and even if the mainstream media continue to ignore this farce, or report it as though it’s an inconsequential matter, Bell now has the Net to contend with.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
January , 2009
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January 28th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
At least the US system IS resulting in charges, and some have been substantial.
Early in the game, AT&T and a few other providers were charged for doing the same thing that Bell is doing to us.
The difference about the US DNCL is that it’s not run by a friggin’ TELCO (!)
“Only in Canada, eh?….”
January 28th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
USA News:
FTC ACTS!
FTC slaps Do Not Call Violators with $1.2 Million in penalties
Canadian News:
INDUSTRY MINISTER FLAPS HIS LIPS!
“An abuse of the do-not-call list is unconscionable, not to mention illegal, and I sympathize with those Canadians who are being harassed by unscrupulous telemarketers.” But it continues…
Yup, that’s the Canadian gov hard at work…