DO NOT CALL, AGAIN

WaPo reports,

The nation’s largest telemarketing association today said its members would voluntarily comply with the government’s do-not-call list on Wednesday, even though a federal judge has ruled that the registry is unconstitutional.

Direct Marketing Association President H. Robert Wientzen said that after a conference call Saturday with more than 200 of the association’s largest members there was unanimous agreement to stop calling the 50 million phone numbers on the national do-not-call list. The DMA, which has been fighting the planned restrictions, represents about 80 percent of the companies making sales calls, industry officials said.

“We will honor the list the best we can,” Wientzen said in a telephone interview.

“Although we believe this is an inappropriate role for the government, we don’t want to catch the American consumer in our crossfire,” Wientzen said. “We believe we should honor their wishes.”

This is a good P.R. move for an industry sorely in need of one. Further, this strikes me as a no-brainer: People who are so outraged by these calls as to have taken the trouble to wait on an 800 line or figure out a website obviously are not a great target audience.

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