Privacy: have it or not, you pay for it.

Someone sent us email to say it was wrong to charge for privacy services. He said folks should not have to pay for their right to be left alone. Below is that email, and our response.

I am tired of telemarketers, spam and scam artists and advertising in my regular mail, but I am also tired of having to pay for the solution too, considering no one should have the right to invade my privacy in the first place.

Sorry but this is just how i feel. no offense

We agree. You should not have to pay for anything that is already yours. Everyone has the right to be left alone in their homes; free of intrusions from those they seek to avoid. Rights are ours, for free.

The fact that the telemarketing problem exists, is a symptom of what is basically wrong with our nation. We've lost the value of our vote to the value of campaign contributions made by big business. As is inevitable in an under-regulated area of a capitalist society, money wins over democracy.

The vast majority of citizens are fed up with junk calls. The fact that they continue is an indictment of our government. The FTC will soon hold a press conference announcing the creation of a national do-not-call database. Unfortunately, it will likely be filled with so many loopholes/exemptions that telemarketers will drive boiler rooms through it.

Private Citizen, Inc. is a privately held organization. So far, this month alone, we have spent over $1000 on postage and printing to mail our members newsletters and information on the telemarketing firms we sent their do-not-call request to. We also must pay for our staff's salary, phone charges (which are commonly hundreds of dollars a month), the free memberships we give to the infirm, and the time required to assist the elderly who are being scammed by fraudulent telemarketers. When we are successful in getting refunds from outfits that operate on just this side of the criminal line, we demand no compensation from those we helped

And there are other costs. As Private Citizen's president, I've testified before subcommittees of the US Senate, the California and Illinois General Assemblies and commonly assist other states formulate privacy laws. I flew to DC on two other occasions to participate in FTC regulatory panels concerning telemarketing and went to Kentucky at the request of their state Attorney General, to speak at a press conference introducing amendments to strengthen the state's do-not-call law. In April, I'll be in Providence, RI to participate in a national conference of privacy activists. I am also asked to speak on privacy issues at various symposiums and educational institutions. Travel and lodging are generally the expense of Private Citizen.

This is what Private Citizen does, full time: fight for the right of privacy for you and all other citizens, whether or not you or they are a member.

    $17 a year for an unlisted number,
    $60 a year for Caller ID,
    $130 a year for 'Privacy Manager' / "Call Intercept".
All told, we estimate that folks pay over $2 billion every year, just to phone companies, in hopes of preventing telemarketing intrusions. None of these services truly achieve the purpose that they are marketed under. Yet, these services are offered by the same telcos that sell your name and number to telemarketers.

And everyone pays extra for products and services, due to telemarketing.

Here's why:

Telemarketing firms pay hundreds of millions of those 'extra' dollars, in the form of 'campaign contributions' (a.k.a. political bribes) to lawmakers, thus assuring a legislative environment which tolerates the abuse of your fundamental right to be left alone at home.

But folks don't complain to us about that. Instead, they complain about our $20 charge to notify over 1,500 firms, of our member's do-not-call request.

Our service works. Our members have collected over $1.1 million since 1996 and report a 75% drop in junk calls. In the aggregate, members collect more than they spend for membership.

Thank you for taking the time. You should put this under a link called. "Why A $20.00 membership", so you don't have to do this very often. I am serious, it would help those of us that can't afford yet another bill for anything and those that might, but would like an explanation first. I appreciate the answer and it makes sense. I don't use Caller ID because it is a scam too, just as having a private number is bull, so now I understand, thanks.

Note: the following was written in 1997

Between January, 95 and October, 96 AT&T gave $2.6 million to the campaigns of federal legislative candidates. Even more telling: AT&T gave 108 times more money to incumbent House Congressional candidates than non-incumbents.
Why? Perhaps the direct marketing industry rewards legislators who dutifully thwart legislation that would protect us from their 'privacy intrusive' business practices. Note that their are hundreds of 'privacy' bills introduced by state and federal law makers every year. Yet very few become law; and those that do, are generally gutted of effective enforcement measures.

As reported in the New York Times, Congressman Dan Burton (R - IN) has been a member of the U S House for decades. All that time he wanted to play golf in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Tournament. Well, suddenly (3 weeks after Burton became the Chair of a House Committee that will award a $5 BILLION dollar federal telecommunications contract) he finally got his wish. You see, AT&T sponsors the tournament, and it was AT&T that invited him. AT&T also sponsored a fund-raiser for Burton after the tournament. Burton said he had sought a tournament invitation from AT&T since 1986 (of course he wasn't in charge of awarding federal contracts that may go to AT&T... until now).

And what would a golf outing be without a nice practice round with Robert Allen (AT&T's Chairman and CEO). Guess what! Allen and Burton played a practice round together; and who knows what they talked about. Gee... didn't AT&T invite you to their Pro-Am Tournament? Didn't you play golf with AT&T's Chairman? Well, just become the motive force behind a $5,000,000,000.00 federal telecommunications contract and you'll find out how 'friendly' AT&T is.

By the way; AT&T soon thereafter gave Burton a $7,000 campaign contribution.

Let's see... a $5,000,000,000 contract vs. a $7,000 campaign contributio; if AT&T gets the contract, that's a rate of return of more than 71,000%. But maybe the telemarketing industry considers it just 'an investment in good government'.

AT&T owned American Transtech, a 'telemarketing service agency' that makes junk phone calls to homes. Back in 1990, at a Congressional hearing, AT&T was forced to admit that they were making 60 million junk calls a year. With a 15% annual growth rate in telemarketing, that number may have tripled by now.

Think about it... the only thing we give a law maker is a single vote, while telemarketing related firms throw millions in cash at them.