Starting in fall 2009, recorded sales pitches will effectively be banned, thanks to a rule change announced this week by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
After September next year, a company will only be able to call you with a prerecorded sales message if you have given your written permission.
In the interim, it will be easier for you to dodge unwanted recorded calls.
Starting in December, the FTC will require telemarketers, at the outset of a recorded call, to give an option -- such as a key or voice prompt -- to end the call and opt out of receiving future calls.
Voice Mail Broadcasting Corp. petitioned the FTC in 2004, asking for a "safe harbor" for telemarketers from the Telemarketing Sales Rule when they were calling current or previous customers.
The FTC denied Voice Mail's petition, proposing tightening the rules instead.
The rule change won't apply to "informational" calls such as recorded reminders for appointments. Also unaffected: political calls.
For-profit telemarketers making calls on behalf of nonprofit groups won't have to get written permission, but they will have to provide the interactive opt-out.
