[LINK] Do-No-Call Register - my draft submission

[Robin Whittle]

The Do-Not-Call Register proposal:

  http://www.dcita.gov.au/tel/do_not_call

is a very welcome and important development.  The deadline for
submissions is 30 November.  Any person or organisation with an interest
in telecommunications privacy can make a submission, and so possibly
influence the resulting legislation.


Please read my draft submission:

  http://www.firstpr.com.au/issues/dnc/

and:

  * Copy and adapt any ideas you find useful.
  * Suggest improvements.
  * Refer to ideas you like in your own submission.

Below are the major points.

Please pass this email on to anyone who may be interested.

  - Robin



*  No restrictions on the types of phone numbers which should be
   protected.  The Register should protect all businesses, government
   agencies, community groups etc.


* Opt-in regulation of telemarketing is the easiest and best approach.


* If telemarketing is regulated on an opt-out basis, this should not
  cover market and social research calls, but should cover all
  fund-raising calls, and likewise all sales, fund-raising and
  promotional calls from political or religious organisations.


* If social and market research calls are to be regulated, they should
  be regulated separately from telemarketing calls, on an opt-out basis,
  ideally with separate user preferences for research which falls into
  one of two categories:

  1 - "Public" - research is genuine, not just about one company's
      products or services.  Research most likely covers matters of
      public interest, health, social issues.  The most important
      requirement is that the full research results and analysis will
      be made fully public, no matter what the research outcomes.

  2 - "Non-Public - Proprietary".  The research will not be published.

  (This is a modification of my initial "social / scientific vs.
   commercial" dichotomy, prompted by a response from a Market and
   Social Researcher, whose email I quote on my page.)


* An opt-out list for the three separate categories "telemarketing",
  "public research" and "non-public - commercial" research calls must
  be implemented on the basis of "list flagging" (AKA "cleaning" or
  "washing") rather then by exporting the entire list of protected
  numbers to telemarketers, researchers etc. etc.


* In order to help deter and detect breaches of the Register's
  protective arrangements, and for many other reasons relating to
  one-off calls involving bomb-threats, emotionally abusive calls etc.
  it is vital that home, business and mobile telephone services have an
  easy-to-use Customer Activated Malicious Call Trace facility, which
  does not require prior arrangements to activate.


* The whole concept of a caller encouraging a recipient to divulge
  personal information, especially credit card details, is at odds with
  common sense.  Governments should educate the public about the risks
  of doing this, since there is no way the recipient can be sure of the
  identity of the caller.  To this end, all telemarketing calls,
  including fund-raising calls, should be prohibited from asking the
  recipient to divulge such information - and should be limited to
  encouraging the recipient to make a donation or purchase via some
  means by which the recipient can be sure of the identity of the
  persons they reveal their credit card and other information to.