from Cox and other service providers with whom they have chosen to do business.

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Nonetheless, the FTC's proposed national do not call regime threatens to foreclose many of 

these communications, which benefit the commercial interests of both consumers and the firms 

with whom they have formed ongoing relationships.   

The Commission's proposal would allow consumers to selectively choose to receive calls 

from specific companies by providing their  express verifiable authorization  to be called or by 

simply refraining from taking advantage of the national registry.  However, this rationale ignores 

the obvious probability that many customers who place their telephone numbers on the national 

registry will not appreciate the breadth of the Rule and will realize too late that they have lost 

access to valuable information from their existing service providers.  Although the proposed 

amended Rule technically would allow these customers to restore these communications by 

granting their  express verifiable authorization  to be called, it will be cumbersome, expensive 

and impractical for many businesses to obtain this necessary authorization.  Quite apart from the 

burdens and expenses this requirement will inflict on businesses, customers also will be 

inconvenienced by the need to formally record their consent to be called, which in most cases 

could be inferred accurately from their continuing relationships with particular businesses.  

Almost every state legislature that has enacted a  do not call  registry  statute has 

recognized the importance of preserving legitimate, mutually beneficial commercial activities by 

exempting calls that further established business relationships.  Missouri, for example, exempts 

from its registry law telemarketing calls placed by  any person or entity with whom a residential 

subscriber has had a business contact within the past one hundred eighty days or has a current 

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 As the FTC acknowledges in its NPRM,  the same customers who say they would like to stop receiving 

telemarketing calls may actually welcome certain types of telemarketing calls   for example, special sale price offers 

from companies with which they have previously transacted business.   

NPRM

, 67 Fed. Reg. 4492, 4519. 

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