---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20180729044117.GA20466@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2018 00:41:17 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: CWA opens NLRB complaint against AT&T As before, there's very little detail: the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) requires those seeking details to file a request under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA). https://www.nlrb.gov/case/12-CA-224465 -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20180730170308.GA26310@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2018 13:03:08 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Ringless Voicemail: Clever and Cool, but Is It Legal? A few months ago, a client asked if "ringless voicemail" is legal. Before I could answer, I first had to know what he was talking about. "It's the hottest new thing in telemarketing," he said, "a sure money maker." And he wanted to begin offering it to his clients as soon as possible. Now that I'm educated, I can break the secret to you if you still happen to be in the dark. Then I will try to answer my client's question for you as well. http://www.ftcadlaw.com/ringless-voicemail-clever-and-cool-but-is-it-illegal/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20180730175030.GA26402@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2018 13:50:30 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: First Ringless Voicemail Message TCPA Decision Sides With Plaintiff A federal judge in Michigan is the first to declare in a published dispositive opinion that a ringless voicemail message (RVM) is a "call" regulated by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In an opinion issued on July 16, 2018, in Saunders v. Dyck O'Neal, U.S. District Judge Gordon J. Quist of the U.S. District Court, Western District, Michigan, noted Congress' broad descriptor "any" in prohibiting "any call," and noted that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Supreme Court have generally construed the TCPA broadly in ruling that new and emerging telephone technologies are governed by the TCPA, including voicemail messages, text messages and email-initiated text messages. Judge Quist also noted that plaintiff received the notifications and listened to the voicemails on her phone, so the practical effect is the same, regardless of whether her phone rang before the voicemail was left. In Judge Quist's view, a contrary holding would be "absurd." https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=abcb3d4f-bb3a-4a9c-aef4-eb943cbc51de -- Bill Horne (To write to me directly, remove "QRM" from my email address) ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Tue, 31 Jul 2018