Show 10A Saturday Jura? 29 1991 S’a'tianJ-Exa'Tsine- Marshall departs r cs? fv liberals lose voice VV: 1 sA wVl c- i 1 -- ih Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall has become a legendary symbol of equal justice for all As an attorney he put the dream of equality into the law At 82 one of the court’s two octogenarians Marshall’s stunning announcement of his retirement came at the close of the court’s current session He cited reasons of health and advancing age But his disenchantment and disillusionment over the conservative tide of court was no secret Marshall the court’s only black justice was the undaunting human rights advocate and the court’s leading spokesman for the liberal point of view Marshall’s greatest effectiveness as a justice came during his early years on the court when it held the liberal sway Marshall wrote many liberal rulings when the court was liberal and many liberal dissents after it turned conservative He was swept into national prominence in late 1952 As the NAACP lawyer Marshall argued the case that led the Supreme Court to desegregate the schools That was 12 years before King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial Brown vs Board of Education — Marshall’s case — let black people begin to dream Marshall’s career is marked with milestones in significant legislation from the 1960s onward For decades Marshall traveled the nation as the recognized legal champion of the poor and powerless For many blacks in Southern hamlets a holiday atmosphere accompanied the news that “Mr Marshall’s coming to town” The Supreme Court has lost a historic justice a hero for all Americans and all time A hero to the underclass the disadvantaged whose voice on the bench always rang out clearly for equal justice As a Supreme Court justice Marshall played a historic role in writing opinions on civil rights He opened doors for many locked-ou- t Americans His contributions to racial justice and equality make him a legend in his own time Whomever President Bush picks the fight for ideological control of the court is over Marshall never hesitated to express his frustration and consternation over the court’s move to the right and his participation in the e concourt that has had a reliable servative majority Marshall’s interpretation of the law epitomized the liberal view of the Constitution The loss of his voice for the minorities his ideology and consciousness of civil rights injustices must be recognized as essential components for choosing a nominee in the succession process ?WCN CHI A FoK tne flipper Ut i civil-righ- ts nine-memb- er five-vot- POINTCOUNTERPOINT People deserve protection against telemarketing intrusions Corporate America has your number Today in the United States an estimated 30000 businesses actively telemarket goods and services to business and residential customers Automatic dialing machines can dial up to 1000 homes per day to deliver a prerecorded message And according to Telemarketing Magazine nearly 300000 marketing agents make 18 million calls a day Automatic dialers can place calls randomly meaning they sometimes call unlisted numbers for hospitals police and fire stations — causing public safety problems The electronic equivalent of junk mail is beginning to clog fax lines to seize phone lines and to restrict an individual’s right to privacy The information age equivalents of the door-to-dosalesman of yesteryear are plying their wares through wires rather than doors These new telemarketing techniques are not only more pervasive but also more intrusive than ever befoie Unsolicited electronic advertising has become one of the unforeseen consequences of the modern telecommunications revolution Consider this example of current telemarketing practices recently obtained by the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and finance: Bill's EDWARD J MARKEY “Our staff has numerous lists that enable you to target prospective customers through demographic and psychographic information Please call them” Last year a survey conducted by Louis Hams and Associates found that an overwhelming majority of Americans feel their right to privacy is in jeopardy — 79 percent of the US population agreed that if we rewrote the Declaration of Independence today we would probably add pnvacy to the list “life liberty and pursuit of happiness” as a fundamental right Because of concerns such as these I introduced HR 1304 the “Telephone Advertising Consumer Rights Act" and H R 1305 the “Telephone Consumers Privacy Rights Act” two complementary bills that would give the public an opportunity to “just say no" to unsolicited phone or facsimile ads Those who object to unwanted telephone solicitations would be able to make their phone numbers to telemarketers by placing those numbers in a restricted “don’t call me” electronic database The bill which 1 have with Rep Matthew Rinaldo R-would also prohibit advertis otf-lim-i-ts ing calls to public safety numbers and paging and cellular equipment Opposition to the bill comes from a broad array of telemarketers who claim that the policies of their own “don’t call me" lists are already doing the job But the lists aren’t widely publicized or used In addition there are no penalties for calling people on these lists and they are strictly voluntary for the industry Ironically these lists are sold to telemarketers by trade associations using the approach that it saves time and effort by predetermining consumers who will not be receptive The federal legislation that I have introduced would do the same thing only better It would create enforceable rules to enable ALL persons who object to unsolicited telemarketing to list their telephone numbers with the Federal Communications Commission and it would eliminate the need for the patch-wor- k “self-policin- quilt of ineffective listing mechanisms sponsored by the telemarketing industry But corporate America wants to keep your number Recently a telemarketing industry official wrote that “almost all telemarketers would technically violate the law at one time or another” This indicates that the telemarketing industry and the technology that supports it is out of control The same official stated “Regulation to remove an annoyance is treading on very shaky ground" This simply misses the point As the information revolution continues to make dramatic changes in the way we do business and the means by which we communicate laws must be created to protect our private lives Consumers cannot be left powerless with their personal information buying habits and “psychographic" background available lor purchase Regulation to protect consumer privacy and consumer choice and to ensure industry responsibility is more than just an “annoyance” to most Americans The telephone is an insistent master: When it rings we answer it Legislation for a federal database for persons who object to unsolicited calls is nothing more than returning a fundamental right — - the right to choose whom we must listen to Markey is chairman of the House Kneryy and Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications and finance list requirement is unfair to phone salespeople no-ca- ll The growth of telemarketing is one of the great business success stones ol the 1980s Hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods and services are sold and funds are raised annually by telephone Businesses charitable and religious organizations political candidates and many others use at least one of the many forms of telemarketing With success though have come many problems The Direct Marketing Association has worked diligently to develop a suies of guidelines designed to reduce the nuisance factor of telemarketing And we have worked with federal state and local officials to combat fraud and misleading advertising and develop sound regulations to conuul some of the more serious problems in the use ol the telephone lor mai ketmg Thus we agtee that some ugulations are needed "I he Direct Marketing sxociation has worked closely duung the past car with Rep Idward Mar-keystaff and the staffs ol other subcommittees in flic House and Senate on a number of bills to regulate telemarketing We suppoit legislation requiring blocking for telephone companies to oiler per-hnconsumers calling 9i)() numlH'is and requiting a preamble describing the nature and cost ol a tJ num-le- r call lie lore a consumer is i bulged Our association has helped tliuU and supports leg ’s e Richard A barton (station to restrict the use of devices that automatically dial numbers and use recorded message programs Rep Markcy’s bill (HR 1304) would forbid calling emergency numbers and paging devices require rapid disconnection when a consumer hangs up the phone and require telemarketers to state their identity at the beginning of the recorded message and give a telephone number at which the caller can be reached I he bill also restricts the use of fax machines lor unsolicited marketing We support these provisions of the bill However we have difficulty with a segment of the bill added at virtually the last minute It requires the I ederal Communications Commission to establish a national database of people who do not want to receive unsohcited telephone calls No business would be allowed to make an unsolicited commercial call unless it ran its lists against the I CC list W hat’s wrong with that’’ After all the Direct Marketing Association itself mamtainsa national list" that can reduce national telemarketing calls by as much us 80 percent “do-riot-ca- ll However it is a tar cry from supporting strong into subjecting every commercial dustry entity to the threat of federal penalties almost every time they pick up the telephone to make an unsolicited call From experience we know it is virtually impossible to keep a completely accurate list Thus the possibility of calling someone on the list even when we don’t want to is very real Also the bill exempts calls from nonprofit or political organizations businesses with established relationships survey research and business-to-busines- s calls There is no evidence though that these calls are any less intrusive than purely “commercial" calls Hus added to the fact that it is difficult to imagine any real enforcement against the hundreds of thousands of small local businesses using the telephone to dium up a little business means that the bill would ptobably do relatively little to stop unsolicited telephone calls In plate of this pioposal we would make three suggestions which are not necessarily mutually exclusive I irst amend the bill to require that the ICC conduct a nuior study into the whole issue of unsolicited telephone calls without restriction to content and make recommendations as to the appropriate level of regulation We would assure that telemarketers would work with the ICC m a good-faiteflort h Second amend the bill to require that all tclemar- keters making unsolicited calls have in place procedures to give an opportunity for those whom they call to be removed irom their lists There should be no exemptions Third aggressively expand efforts The Direct Marketing Association has already committed itself to promote even mote strongly its Telephone Preference Service to help people get off national lists W'e are also stepping up our efforts to get telemarketing companies to remove anyone from their lists who requests it After all it doesn’t pay for us to call people who don’t want to hear from us In the meantime if you want our help in removing you from national telemarketing Iits write: Telephone Preference Service Direct Marketing Association II W 42nd St PO Box 3801 New fork I Ul 1 Ih hard 1 lUirhm is senior su e president for aflain at the Direst Marketing Asuktatnm Ssripps Ilonard cni Sersne |