Friday, February 25, 2005
Do Not Call
I want to report today on my recent adventures in active citizenship. I’ve been looking into Indiana’s Do Not Call law. You know the one – it was passed a couple of years ago, and it prevents most businesses from calling your home to try to sell you credit cards and other unwanted stuff. Hoosiers register their phone number with the Attorney General’s office, and they are protected from most of the unwanted calls that used to be so common here at dinnertime. About 3.5 million of us have signed up for what one national news magazine says is the strongest protection against unwanted business calls in the entire nation. Aren’t you proud?
But now a consortium of banks, including quite a few that do business in Indiana, want to weaken this law. They’ve filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking that the FCC overturn the more restrictive laws in Indiana and a handful of other states in favor of the weaker national law. The banks would like to be able to call customers, even those who are on a Do Not Call list, and offer them new credit cards and other products. You have to wonder, though – if banks are allowed to make sales calls, what’s to stop other industries from demanding the same privilege?
So that’s what provoked my recent flurry of active citizenship. A few weeks ago I did a bit of reading about the issue and then tried to contact my congressman and our state’s two senators. I asked for their position on the issue and whether they planned to advise the FCC on behalf of Indiana voters. I also asked for a reply to my message. As of today, only Senator Richard Lugar’s office has replied. His letter said that he plans to keep an eye on the issue, but he said nothing about speaking to the FCC on our behalf. The other representatives didn’t even send a form letter thanking me for having contacted them. Ah, Washington!
Then I decided to write about the Do Not Call law for today’s radio broadcast, and I phoned my representatives to make sure I had up to date information about their positions. I identified myself and said that I was preparing a radio broadcast on the subject. You remember that when I called or e-mailed as a regular citizen I usually got no reply, but when I called saying that I was going to talk about the issue on the radio, things changed. My call was put through to the offices of press secretaries, and if they couldn’t come to the phone just then, I was invited to leave a message, and guess what – these Washington press secretaries called me back! All except one, who must be very busy.
So here is what the press secretaries told me. Congressman Chris Chocola believes that the Do Not Call law is a “state issue,” and so he’s not planning on getting involved. Senator Lugar doesn’t usually “meddle” in the affairs of the FCC, so he’s not planning on getting involved either. No word from Senator Bayh one way or another. If I do hear from the Senator, I’ll call you during dinner and let you know what he has to say.
So how much freedom should companies have, and how much protection should citizens have, and can states enforce laws that are stricter than the national law? These are good questions, complex enough to indicate that the FCC might very well overturn a portion of Indiana’s law. The strongest defender of Do Not Call has been our state’s Attorney General, Steve Carter, who set up a website called savedonotcall.com. The site provides lots of information about the law and the banks that are challenging it. You can read their petition to the FCC and judge for yourself. You can find out how to contact the banks and how to share your opinion with the FCC, as more than 26,000 other people have done. You can be an active citizen on an issue that really matters to you. Hey, give it a try. It’s better than sitting around the dinner table waiting for the phone to ring.
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Michiana Chronicles is a series of radio essays by Jonathan Nashel, Louise Collins, Joe Chaney, Jeanette Saddler Taylor, Jeff Nixa, April Lidinsky, and Ken Smith.
Michiana is the region of north-central Indiana and southern Michigan roughly centered on South Bend, Indiana.
Michiana Chronicles airs on Fridays at 7:35 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on WVPE (88.1 FM), the home of public radio in Elkhart / South Bend, Indiana.
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