Changes to New York Call Recording Laws

On Monday, August 21st, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that will require all-party consent for the recording of outbound telemarketing calls. This bill will start to be enforced immediately. Prior to this, New York was only a one-party consent state for outbound telemarketing calls, but now marketers will be subject to this new regulation. Read the full text of the bill here. Learn more about outbound telemarketing compliance. There are also a number of other telemarketing rules to be aware of before you start any telemarketing campaign.

Court of Appeals Affirms that LA Lakers Basketball Team is not Entitled to TCPA Coverage

Last Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that the Los Angeles Lakers basketball franchise is not entitled to insurance coverage for violations of the TCPA. A class action lawsuit was filed against the Lakers after they allegedly sent unauthorized marketing text messages to fans that provided their phone numbers as part of an in-game promotion. The Lakers sued their insurance provider after they denied them coverage for TCPA violations. Read more about this story here. Learn more about telemarketing to cell phones.

Federal Judge in Illinois Rules that Human Call Initiator is not an ATDS

In Arora v. Transworld Systems Inc., Plaintiff Ashok Arora alleged that Transworld Systems Inc. (TSI) made 12 unsolicited calls to his cell phone using an autodialer. TSI filed a motion for summary judgement, arguing that their system requires call by call human intervention and therefore is not considered an autodialer under the TCPA. The Court granted TSI's motion. Read a copy of the opinion here. What else is important to know about autodialer compliance? What is an autodialer?

FTC Announces Refunds to Victims of Alleged Tech Support Scheme

The FTC announced today that they will be sending out notices to consumers who are eligible for a partial refund from Advanced Tech Support (ATS). According to the FTC complaint, ATS allegedly "used high-pressure sales pitches to market tech support products and services by falsely claiming that people’s computers were infected with viruses and malware." The defendants have agreed to settle with the FTC and pay out $10 million in refunds. Read the full press release here.