I don’t know about you, but don’t answer my home phone any more, and I certainly don’t answer it during election time. Why not? Calls which I want are extremely rare, given that most of the people I know either send me an e-mail or call my cell phone, and the few times I actually pick up it’s some sort of survey or poorly disguised sales pitch. In fact, it it wasn’t for 911 we probably wouldn’t have a landline at all.
Now, a bill has been introduced in Congress which would allow automated calls to mobile phones as well. The Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011 (H.R. 3035) would allow companies to call cell phones for purposes other than “telephone solicitations,” a.k.a. sales calls without obtaining the cell phone holder’s consent. Not surprisingly, consumer groups have been screaming bloody murder, particularly given that many consumers must pay for the cost of incoming calls, and some are organizing online petitions opposing the bill.
Not surprisingly, the bill has a fair number of supporters, including debt collection agencies and a “leading global provider of cloud-based, multi-channel proactive customer communications” a.k.a. a provider of internet-based autodialing services. Supporters claim that the dearth of landlines in the United States has prevented consumers from receiving critical information by phone, citing flight cancellations and calls regarding possible credit card fraud as examples.
Either way, I’m preparing for the possibility that I’ll be ignoring my cell phone when it rings as well.
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