[palmer]

So how is a telemarketer any different from anyone else?

Because it is not harassment if you have allowed them to call you. Your service agreement with the phone company allows calls from anyone.

[Naspino]

Because it is not harassment if you have allowed them to call you. Your service agreement with the phone company allows calls from anyone.

My service agreement is not to "allow" anyone to call me. It is for phone service of inbound and outbound calls. Its not the phone companies job to restrict who can call me. Its mine and I signed up with the No Call List to fulfill my responsibility.

[MizSterious]

Does your "service agreement" with the city allow "visits" from anyone, even unwanted visitors, too? I don't think so. I think trespass laws come into play with the phone as well as your living room. Will they next insist they have the right to force us to listen to their spiels? (I wouldn't put it past them.)

What most people (not all, I've seen some mention it) are missing is that the ban in no way infringes on telemarketers' free speech rights. They can speak all they want. There is no right that forces us to listen.

Another thing: if the telemarketers keep it up, they just might find their sales plummeting. Sometimes when people get mad, really, really mad, they vote with their checkbooks.

Just a warning to any of you in the telemarketing business.