An Oklahoma federal judge has blocked the national Do Not Call list, finding that the FTC overstepped its boundaries in creating the list.
Beyond the legality of this list, not being a lawyer, what I don't understand is how telemarketing is legal in the first place. WE pay for the use of our phones, therefore, we should not have to endure what are essentially ads to use them. It's not like public TV, which is funded by advertising, and so we put up with commercials to get "free" shows. This is like buying a car, but being obligated once in a while - completely at random - to pick up a stranger to ferry them wherever they need to go. The phone is ours, the line usage is on our bill, and until these companies start paying for our service, they have no right whatsoever to take up our time on them with ads for their services. Plus, if the people who signed up for the list didn't want the services to begin with, what have they lost? Because I can guarantee that there is no service that offers anything by phone that I'm going to be remotely interested in. If they can't afford normal advertising channels, it is likely a product or service that I am not going to want anyway.
So, "boo" to U.S. District Judge Lee R. West. Maybe he needs to feel the wrath of disgruntled phone-owners, too.
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