FCC & FTC are still on the warpath. Robodialers Beware.

[williamconley]

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/kissi ... -robocalls

Hiding your CID will not stop them from locating you.

Saying "I was making the calls for someone else" will not stop them from "seeking an injunction and punitive damages" in the high six or seven figures, or even arresting and incarcerating you.

And because you got away with it for a while doesn't mean records don't exist that could come back and get you arrested in a couple years. Mr. Bartoli's lawsuit in 2019 stems from calls made in 2017. His lawyer may work out a negotiation, but my guess is that the settlement would require several other deeper pockets to be involved or "no deal". This translates to "if he was dialing for YOU, you are about to get tossed under the bus". Just a guess, of course, as I have no direct information on the incidents in question.

ORLANDO, Fla. - The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against a Kissimmee man, claiming he and the software he created are behind millions of illegal robocalls.

The lawsuit against Derek Jason Bartoli was filed in U.S. District Court on Friday.

State records show Bartoli has registered several telemarketing companies using his home address in Kissimmee over the last nine years.

According to the lawsuit filed by the FTC, automated calls made by those companies violated federal law.

"Bartoli built and operated the Autodialer to call consumers, who were then transferred to live telemarketer agents... in Altamonte Springs," the lawsuit read.

Federal investigators also claimed in the lawsuit, "Bartoli programmed the Autodialer to engage in illegal 'neighbor spoofing,' where the caller ID displayed is a telephone number that matches the first six digits of the call recipient's telephone number followed by four random digits."

They claim many of the telephone numbers called were on the Do Not Call Registry.

For example, during a six-month period from July-December 2017, the lawsuit claimed Bartoli's software made 77,447,672 calls to consumers. Investigators claimed 73 percent of those calls were made to numbers on the Do Not Call Registry.

"Bartoli knew the telephone calls he initiated were unlawful," the lawsuit alleged.

The FTC is seeking an injunction and punitive damages against Bartoli.

Andrew Cove, Bartoli's attorney, told News 6 on Monday that they're currently working to resolve the issue with the government.

He would not go into specifics.

[thephaseusa]

Yes calling up and playing a recording wont be tolerated anymore. But if and when true Artificial Intelligence software is in production current laws and regs won’t cover it will they? Or do they? If the software can hear and understand questions and respond with answers responsive the questions that wouldn’t fall into the robocall category would it?

I’m sure by the time the software is perfected the legislatures will pass laws making using AI for sales a violation also, won’t they?

JM

[williamconley]

If the software can hear and understand questions and respond with answers responsive the questions that wouldn’t fall into the robocall category would it?

Yes it would. Just because some "if/then" statements are in place does not mean it's not a robocall. And we're not talking about "just call people who can't tell the difference", the FCC only chases down the worst offenders, as a rule. Those who dial millions are going to also hit the skeptics who question the machine. Then all that expensive tech will be prolbematic. What do you mean you can spend $1.2M to develop AI software but you can't afford your $13M fine?

plus, mr. bartoli's offense was dialing DNC numbers. These days all you can do when you go crazy is dial DNC or Cell phones. Either will land you in the poor house.

[thephaseusa]

So true, so true.
In Texas when they first created the DNC list I think more than 75% of all consumers (residential land line numbers) did sign up. I was doing fundraising so we were exempted but I thought to myself well a lot of call centers will shortly be closing their doors; there is no one left to call.

Strangely non profits have an exemption for cells too I believe.

You know Europe uses an Opt In do not call system right? Everyone is by default on the DNC. If you would LIKE to get telemarketing calls you can sign up to get them. Cute isnt it?

[teleinx]

China considers all telemarketing calls illegal. If calls from your account are under 60 seconds its a red flag.
That's why if your a telemarketer and you want to call China, it costs $0.06 or more per minute