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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC (News - Alert)) announced over the summer that it would review and revise the national Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), which protects Americans from overwhelming unsolicited phone calls. In addition to the rise of various automatic dialers and other call center tools, it is up to the FTC to determine an appropriate balance between individual privacy and profitable call centers. Because this is such a delicate matter, the FTC has officially announced that it will extend the deadline for consumers to submit comments on the situation through November 13th.

Extending the deadline for comments will allow more members from both sides of the argument to make their opinions heard before the FTC comes to a decision. If the laws are too stringent then the telemarketing industry could start to decline, while laws that are too lax would result in a bombardment of calls, and could even make it easier for scammers to disguise themselves to defraud consumers.

The FTC is specifically asking the public to share its opinions on where the TSR (News - Alert) stands in the marketplace, and encourages commenters to question the costs, benefits and efficacy of the TSR. From this information, the FTC is planning to determine if the TSR should be modified, rescinded or simply left alone. Considering the fact that more stringent features would also cost more money to support for tools like call recording, stricter requirements may not be the best way to go.

The Commission vote to approve the extension of the public comment period was unanimous, with all five members voting to extend the deadline. This is likely a sign that the FTC has not received an adequate response from the public to make a meaningful decision, and it is important that the plan has public approval before any hard decisions are made.