Unpacking Dnc And Known Litigator Numbers
Do-Not-Call ( DNC ) Lists
Any business involved in making routine sales calls would do well to observe laws and
regulations concerning Do-Not-Call (DNC) lists. These lists contain the phone numbers
of people who have registered their phone numbers on the National Do-Not-Call
Registry to avoid receiving calls from unwanted sales personnel. The Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) considers this important enough that it has set a fine of over
$43,000 for anyone who violates the registry's terms and still calls an individual
that has registered their number as Do Not Call. This being the case, many sales
companies have adopted a DNC scrubbing policy, which scrubs their call lists and
removes any of the phone numbers currently on the national DNC registry.
There are several software programs that can accomplish this for you, preventing
this from becoming a tedious manual process. The intent of the DNC Registry is to
prevent frequent phone calls to numbers that have been registered and do not wish to
receive such calls. When an honest mistake is made, the FTC will not pounce on you
with a bill for having called one of those numbers. However, if your company were to
operate as though the DNC list did not exist, that's when you might find yourself with a
hefty bill from the FTC.
TCPA Litigator Lists
The Telephone Communication Protection Act (TCPA) was passed in 1991 and is
closely related to the DNC call lists referenced above. This list is necessary because
there are many unscrupulous lawyers in the country who induce companies to make
phone calls that include DNC phone numbers, and then they sue the caller. Even
though this is a borderline illegal act, it is often very successful and results in several calls being placed to phone numbers on the national DNC registry. When a company makes those calls violating the DNC registry laws, the seemingly
righteous lawyer can swoop down and litigate.
In most cases, companies that have been duped in this manner will settle out
of court to avoid becoming involved in a costly court case. Known TCPA
litigators are fully aware of this and are happy to make an out-of-court settlement. This
usually nets them thousands of dollars, and they don't have to do anything to
earn that money. So, a TCPA litigation list would contain the phone numbers of legal
firms known to engage in this shady practice.
The intent of both lists
Both the DNC and the TCPA lists have the same intent - at heart, they are efforts to
protect private citizens from unwanted phone calls and to maintain the privacy they
are entitled to. Those who take advantage of opportunities to flaunt these lists and
ignore the wishes of private citizens are subject to high fines.
It’s important to remember that there is a massive industry that has been built up by
known litigators, and that's why it is necessary to maintain both of these lists for daily
consultation.