Attorney General Pam Bondi Joins 53 Other Attorneys General in Fight Against…
Robo-Calls to Cell Phones
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.– Attorney General Pam Bondi today joined 53 other state and territorial attorneys general in asking Congress to oppose legislation targeting consumers’ telephone privacy. The “Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011” [H.R. 3035] would amend the Communications Act of 1934 and allow for robo-calling to all cell phones, leaving consumers responsible for the cost. For example, debt collectors and other businesses could place automated “informational” calls to cell phones, impacting those who pay by the minute or have a limited number of minutes available.
In addition, since businesses frequently have the wrong contact information, consumers could be getting and paying for repeated robo-calls on their cell phones to accounts that are not their own.
“This bill blatantly violates a person’s telephone privacy and could cause unwarranted charges to a person’s telephone bill. I will continue to fight for consumers’ rights,” stated Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The attorneys general are asking members of Congress to reject U.S. House Resolution 3035. As chief protectors of consumer rights, many state attorneys general would not be able to enforce their more strict state laws against junk faxes, prerecorded calls or text messages.
This legislation would also narrow the definition of what constitutes an illegal “automatic telephone dialing system.” If passed, the new definition would only prohibit “random or sequential number generators” which means “targeted” calls would be permitted.
Currently, federal law allows robo-calls to be placed to people who have given their explicit consent to receive them or in case of an emergency. If this federal legislation passes, the law will be expanded to allow businesses to robo-call any consumer who has provided their telephone number in the course of a transaction – regardless if a consumer asks not to be contacted.
In the letter, officials also pointed out that an increase in calls to mobile phones could present a hazard to drivers who may become distracted. A 2009 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that cell phone use was involved in 995 or 18 percent of fatalities in distraction-related crashes.
The proposal is currently being considered in the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce – the first step in the legislative process. Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller joined other consumer advocates in November to provide testimony in opposition to the legislation during a hearing before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology in Washington, D.C.
Citizens can also voice their opinion on the proposal by contacting their representative or by voting on Popvox’s nonpartisan website https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/112/hr3035. Popvox will also forward consumers’ comments to members of Congress.
Those that signed the letter are from: Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
SOURCE: http://www.myfloridalegal.com/
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@ David B Fee – FILE COMPLAINTS!!!! Look up statutes and codes of law, look for back dated documents, look for irregular signatures, contact the appropriate state office (usually governor or secretary of state) of the notaries involved and get copies of their notary application/bond/whatever else the state can get for you (sometimes this might cost a few dollars, but worth it) go over the document, when they say they are VP of XYZ bank, find out where they really work, is it the attorney firm suing? If so, file bar complaint for the attorney manufacturing the “evidence” look @ EVERYTHING in the documents, there are ALWAYS ALL kinds of problems, research the issues and then FILE COMPLAINTS!!!!! Show WHAT was violated, HOW it was violated, and point out EVERY SMALL detail – MAKE SURE the complaint is legitimate, but NO MATTER how small the issue – FILE COMPLAINTS. Did I say it enough? In case not, I said – FILE COMPLAINTS!!!!!
There needs to be one web site where you can sign up for all three of the following:
No sale solicitation by phone
No sale solicitation by mail (except legitimate bills)
No sale solicitation by email
Nobody has a right to invade your privacy without permission.
(We can’t even shut down MERS so something this simple will never happen!)
I would like to know what to do about Calif. recon. robo signer Deborah Brigna & Collee Irby who signed my docs & Sara Palin docs in Az.
Well said Mark. But THAT robo-SIGNED paperwork helps the banks that bought her.
Here is a list of the a-holes who sponsored this bill – All Republicans, except for 1 Democrat. If they are in your state, please give their office an angry call, telling them what you think of their sucking up to special interests.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-3035
http://gizmodo.com/5858727/congress-can-shove-the-robocall-bill-up-its-pork+fed-ass
Great job Bondi, ohhhhh you are a real bad a&%^. Maybe you should be as tough on the real “ROBO” issue that is leaving families homeless in the great state of Florida.
Ya know my green parrot and Bondi have a lot in common….they both “squawk” a lot….however, I can understand my green parrot…Bondi on the other hand just spews $hit.