CALL UP SOMEONE AND JUST SAY BUT - TELEMARKETING AND THE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT

Telemarketing has mushroomed in the last several years. This increased telephone activity by commercial sellers has raised questions about t he competing rights of the caller and the called party. Federal and st ate laws have been enacted to protect consumers' in-home privacy right s and to eliminate improper and sometimes dangerous uses of automated call delivery systems. However, telemarketers enjoy free speech rights under the commercial speech doctrine - a doctrine that the Supreme Co urt recently revitalized in Cincinnati v. Discovery Network. Neverthel ess, traditional commercial speech and privacy analyses ignore some of the unique concerns of telephone subscribers, who pay for the telepho ne line into the home which becomes the telemarketers' advertising out let.