Editorial: Do Not Call law works if enforced

Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004 | 8:47 a.m.

Over the objections of the telemarketing industry but with the approval of tens of millions of individual Americans, the federal government created a Do Not Call registry last year. The legislation required telemarketers to buy annual updates of the registry and prohibited them from calling any number listed on it. The legislation had teeth -- civil fines of up to $11,000 for every errant call.

A Las Vegas company, Braglia Marketing Group LLC, has become the first firm in the nation to be sued solely on the basis of violating the Do Not Call legislation. The suit, filed Monday in federal court in Las Vegas, was brought by the Justice Department on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission. The company and its owners, Frank and Kate Braglia, stand accused of making unsolicited calls to more than 300,000 people who had placed their phone numbers on the registry. The lawsuit also says the company made more than 10,000 calls without first paying the fee for the registries that would have shown whether those numbers were listed.

In a press release, the FTC was quick to say that the lawsuit "is not a finding or ruling" that Braglia Marketing Group "actually has violated the law." The lawsuit can, however, be interpreted as a sign that the FTC will investigate complaints and take action when it has reason to believe the registry has been violated.

A big question at the time the legislation was being debated concerned the will of the federal government to enforce the registry once it came on board. We hope this lawsuit shows the federal government intends to follow up on all alleged violations and prosecute where necessary. The Do Not Call registry, now listing more than 63 million numbers, has been effective in keeping unwanted telemarketing calls at bay. The only way it can remain effective is through diligent enforcement.