National telemarketing registry could mean relief for weary consumers

WASHINGTON - Whenever call waiting beeped on Peg Keeley&#39;s phone, she knew it was another sales pitch. <br> <br> Keeley, 64, said the calls from telemarketers got so bad she had to disconnect call waiting just to have an uninterrupted phone conversation. <br> <br> &#34;I didn&#39;t know how to do away with them,&#34; she said. <br> <br> The retired government worker from Springfield, Ill., gets as many as four telemarketing calls a day. She said things have gotten better without call waiting because &#34;if I&#39;m on the phone at least they can&#39;t get through to me.&#34; <br> <br> Inspired by many similar tales of aggravation, the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday it wants to create a national &#34;do not call&#34; registry, strengthening existing telemarketing rules that forbid late-night calls and deceptive sales tactics. <br> <br> Current rules require specific telemarketers to obey when consumers ask to be put on a &#34;do not call&#34; list. <br> <br> The new proposal would let consumers call one toll-free number to stop most telemarketing calls made from outside a consumer&#39;s state, said Howard Beales, the FTC&#39;s director of consumer protection. Consumers could choose to allow calls from certain companies or charities. <br> <br> Telemarketers would have to update their no-call lists monthly from the national list, which would cost the agency between $4 million and $6 million in the first year. Telemarketers who call people on the list could be fined up to $11,000 for each violation. <br> <br> The FTC plans public hearings in June on the registry and other proposed telemarketing regulations, such as preventing telemarketers from hiding their identities from consumers&#39; caller ID boxes. Agency commissioners could vote on the changes as soon as a year from now. <br> <br> Telemarketers say a national registry isn&#39;t needed. <br> <br> H. Robert Wientzen, president of the Direct Marketing Association, said people who do not want to be called can request that their names be added to his group&#39;s list, which has 4.1 million names. He said many telemarketers, including those calling from within states, participate in the service and abide by the list. <br> <br> &#34;The government may be overstepping its boundaries by spending taxpayer dollars to limit communication,&#34; Wientzen said. He said the proposed rules would hurt the industry, driving companies out of the country to avoid the regulations. <br> <br> Beales said the national registry would apply to companies that aren&#39;t part of the association. <br> <br> More than 25 states already have legislation requiring &#34;do not call&#34; lists, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The FTC would work with them to ensure the national list and local lists work together, Beales said. <br> <br> Getting off telemarketer lists hasn&#39;t been easy for Alanna Dunn, 39, who receives up to four calls a day at her home in Ceres, Calif. -- sales pitches pushing everything from cell phones to investments in Texas oil wells. One group selling construction materials wouldn&#39;t take no for an answer. <br> <br> &#34;When I asked, &#39;Can you please take my name off your mailing and calling list?&#39; they said, &#39;Sure, your name will be put on a list, but you&#39;ll be called every 10 minutes,&#34;&#39; Dunn said. Abusive and harassing calls followed, and Dunn had to file a police report and have the phone calls traced. <br> <br> &#34;For the most part, people are very, very kind, but a lot of them are wise,&#34; she said. &#34;When you start to say, &#39;Please take me off your ...,&#39; you get it half out and they hang up.&#34; <br>