Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Two strikes and do-not-call appears to be out on constitutional grounds

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 01:41:54 -0400

Two strikes and do-not-call appears to be out on constitutional grounds
By Heather Forsgren Weaver
September 26 13:33:00, 2003

WASHINGTON—It looks like 50 million Americans who were looking forward to
Wednesday to have an uninterrupted
dinner with their families will have to wait because the wildly popular
do-not-call list was declared unconstitutional on the same day that Congress raced
to beat back another court challenge.

“The court rejects the Federal Trade Commission’s position and holds that the
do-not-call registry sufficiently involves
the government in the regulation of commercial speech to implicate the First
Amendment,” wrote Judge Edward
Nottingham of the U.S. District Court of Colorado. “The FTC by exempting
charitable solicitors from the amended rules
do-not-call registry, has imposed a content-based limitation on what the consumer
may ban from his home. … The mechanism purportedly created by the FTC to
effectuate consumer choice instead influences consumer choice, thereby entangling
the government in deciding what speech consumers should hear. This entanglement
creates a regulatory burden on commercial speech.”

Judge Nottingham’s ruling came out at the end of an extraordinary day where
Congress passed a bill to overturn
another ruling—this time from Judge Lee West of the U.S. District Court for the
Western District of Oklahoma. Lee said
the FTC had not been authorized by Congress to create the list. Congress quickly
gave permission.
The ruling from Judge Nottingham was released too late for even the White House
press office, which issued a statement praising Congress but remaining silent on
the constitutional question.

Congress’ quick action was the result of outcry and amazement that Judge West
would stay the do-not-call list. After the
ruling became public lawmakers held press conferences, released statements and
trudged to their respective chamber floors to speak. Sen. Diane Feinstein
(D-Calif.) was one of these rising to speak, saying she was amazed.
“The Direct Marketing Association is asking its members and the entire
telemarketing industry to respect the wishes of
consumers who have registered for the Federal Trade Commission's National Do Not
Call Registry, even though [federal
court rulings] appear to have put mandatory compliance with the no-call list into
question,” reads the DMA web site.
Telemarketers have long derided the do-not-call list, but the fines for registered
users could have been substantial—$11,000 per call.

The Senate Judiciary Committee tried to solve another annoyance in modern-day
life—spam.
The Judiciary Committee passed a bill that will allow for criminal penalties for
spamming.
Congress is also considering other bills to curb or reduce spam.

On the state front, embattled California Gov. Gray Davis (D-Calif.) signed
legislation this week that is said to be the strongest attempt yet to curb spam.
http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=15252

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From: "Bill Smith" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 13:33:40 -0400

I don't have the problem. I just shut my ringer and answering machine off
when I don't want to be disturbed. Now, when they start calling my cell
phone, then it will be all out war against them! :-)