Ban telephone marketing

Let me say it clearly: telemarketing should be banned by law. Not limited, regulated, or moderated. Prohibited. I'm not saying this as a knee-jerk reaction to a nuisance call. Nor to the two or three hundred I receive each year. Because we get calls more than once a day, on average.

The first and most serious argument is that companies are systematically violating the rules. You sign up for the Robinson List, and they keep calling. You ask them to remove you from their database, and they call you again. They tell you they won't bother you again... until next time. They change companies, subcontractors, or business names, and we're back to it again. It's exhausting. It's a mockery of the law and of the right not to be interrupted in your private life without consent.

Second, it no longer makes economic sense to interrupt us at any hour of the day to offer us a change of electricity company, a new data plan, or life insurance. In other words, to sell us something we didn't ask for, don't need, and don't want. Because, if we were interested, we would have already looked for it. And if we haven't, it's for a reason. In the age of the internet, apps, price comparison sites, forums, and social media, anyone who wants to find a better deal does so on their own initiative. Anyone who wants to change companies, does so. Anyone looking for a promotion, finds it. We don't need anyone to explain it to us over the phone. We don't need anyone to explain it to us. informWe know how to search.

Third, this type of marketing made sense thirty years ago. When there was no internet, no smartphones, no digital platforms. When information was limited and the telephone channel allowed you to find out something new. Today it's just the opposite: we're saturated with information. The last thing we need is one more call offering us something we've already rejected three times through other channels and which we know perfectly well exists. Some will say it can't be banned because it creates jobs. But phone booths and street vendors also created jobs, and we knew how to find substitutes for them when they became obsolete.

If companies want steal Customers should do so through the appropriate channels: traditional advertising, digital media, social media, targeted ads... There are many legitimate and respectful ways to sell without invading. Anyone who wants to change their rate or company will find out. You don't need to call them two or three times a day to tell them.

This deserves a total ban. And a liberal says this.