Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal wants the wireless industry to abandon a proposed cell-phone directory assistance system on the grounds that telemarketers might abuse it, according to a Dec. 20 statement from his office.
The directory would “invade consumers' privacy and subject cell phone users to unwanted telemarketing, potentially increasing bills by hundreds of dollars each,” Blumenthal said in the statement.
His call comes as the industry fights rumors circulated by e-mail — which other attorneys general have deemed baseless — suggesting that a cell-phone directory will result in telemarketing calls to cell phones.
A federal ban on calls to cell phones using automated dialing systems effectively renders most telemarketing calls to cell phones illegal.
Scott Hovanyetz covers telemarketing for DM News.com. To keep up with the latest telemarketing news subscribe to our free e-mail newsletter DM News Daily by visiting http://www.dmnews.com/cgi-bin/newslettersub.cgi
