Updates on developments in data privacy and cybersecurity
Federal and State Telemarketing Legislative Updates
This blog post summarizes recent telemarketing developments emerging at the federal level and from Missouri, Wisconsin and West Virginia.Continue Reading Federal and State Telemarketing Legislative Updates
In late June, the Oregon Legislature passed HB 2759, which would amend the state’s existing “do not call” law. The bill currently is awaiting action by the governor.
If enacted, the bill would make a person “liable for any loss and subject to any penalty” to the same extent as the violator if the…
This blog post reports on two recent state telemarketing law developments that affect, among other things, marketing calls and text message transmissions.
Maryland Enacts New Law. Earlier this month, on May 3rd, Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed into law the Stop the Spam Calls Act of 2023, which will take effect on January 1, 2024. …
On April 20, Governor Jay Inslee signed into law the Robocall Scam Protection Act, which will take effect on July 23, 2023.
As we discuss here, the bill makes a number of updates to the state’s telemarketing law. Notably, the bill prohibits commercial solicitations using an “automatic dialing and announcing device.” It also prohibits…
This blog post summarizes recent telemarketing developments emerging from Arizona, Washington, and Maryland. Arizona recently amended its state telemarketing law to include a new text message restriction. Washington and Maryland may soon enact more significant updates of their telemarketing laws, including with respect to automated transmissions. The proposed new law in Maryland is particularly notable, as it seeks to impose the same sort of consent requirements on automated marketing calls and texts that exist now in Florida and Oklahoma.Continue Reading State Telemarketing Updates: Arizona, Washington, and Maryland
On March 24, 2023, the Italian data protection authority (“Garante”) approved a Code of conduct (“Code”) on telemarketing and telesales activities. The Code was promoted by various Italian industry and consumer associations, pursuant to Article 40 of GDPR.
The Garante notes that the Code reflects broad industry consensus, and welcomes it as an important step to ensuring the lawful performance of the covered activities. The Garante have been historically active in regulating telemarketing and telesales companies, and has applied some of its largest fines to this sector. We provide below an overview of the Code’s key provisions and obligations.Continue Reading Italian Garante Approves Code of Conduct on Telemarketing and Telesales
A financial institution and its vendor recently reached a $50 million settlement in a class action lawsuit for violating the call recording provision of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”). The settlement is nearly three times the size of the largest previous settlement under CIPA, which provides for damages of $5,000 per violation.
Continue Reading Financial Institution Reaches Settlement in Call Recording Class Action
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which enforces data protection legislation in the UK, has fined a company £20,000 (approximately 24,000 USD / 23,000 EUR) for not exercising sufficient due diligence when buying and using marketing databases.
The ICO found that over 580,000 individuals’ contact details had been obtained by The Data Supply Company Ltd (“TDSC”) from sources such as financial institutions and competition websites, and then sold on to third parties. This had led to at least 21,045 unsolicited text messages and 174 complaints.
Because the data was used for direct electronic marketing (by email, SMS, etc.), TDSC was not entitled to rely on its data sources’ generic consent requests, such as “We may share your information with carefully selected third parties where they are offering products or services that we believe will interest you”, nor even fuller notices that disclosed “long lists” of general categories of possible recipients of the data.
Continue Reading UK Company Fined For Buying And Selling Non-Compliant Marketing Databases
The UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”), has imposed a fine of £350,000 on Prodial Ltd (“Prodial”) for making over 46 million unsolicited automated telephone calls to generate leads in relation to payment protection insurance refunds. This is the highest fine issued by the ICO to date.
Continue Reading Company Receives Record Fine from UK Regulator For Cold Calling
Last month a federal court found Dish Network liable for calls that were alleged by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) to violate various provisions of the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”). Specifically, the FTC’s 2009 complaint asserted that Dish Network initiated, or caused a telemarketer to initiate, calls to numbers on the National Do Not Call (“DNC”) Registry and to consumers who previously declined to receive such calls whose numbers were on Dish Network’s entity-specific do-not-call list or were marked “DNC” by a telemarketing vendor. The FTC also alleged that, in violation of the “abandoned-call” provision of the TSR, Dish Network abandoned or caused telemarketers to abandon phone calls. In its complaint, the FTC seeks monetary civil penalties from Dish Network for every violation of the TSR, for which the court is entitled to award up to $16,000 for each violation. At issue are tens of millions of calls, making the potential level of damages to be awarded at the trial stage staggering.
Continue Reading Court Finds FTC Entitled to Partial Summary Judgment Against Dish Network for Telemarketing Violations
