Keller @ Large: Does Robocall Crackdown Go Far Enough?

BOSTON (CBS) - Great news from the Federal Communications Commission, which has responded to complaints about annoying, unwanted robocalls by tightening up the rules governing this kind of telemarketing.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

The marketers will now have to get your permission, in writing or by pressing buttons on your phone, before they can robocall you.

If you don't give consent, they've got to add you to their "do not call" list.

And even if you've done business with them before, they still have to get your OK every time they try to robocall you.

The FCC already had some restrictions on this tactic, but they were too loose, circumvented by taped messages and computerized dialing, and as the agency puts it, calls were still bombarding "consumers who don't want to hear from them."

Like me, and, I bet, you.

I applaud this crackdown, but I also wonder – did they go far enough?

Guess what still isn't covered, for legal reasons – robocalls on behalf of political candidates.

Those are the worst robocalls of all.

Talk about being called by someone you don't want to hear from.

And on those rare occasions when it's a call from someone you might like to have a few words with, like a former president or Mayor Menino, is there anything worse than the way you feel when you realize it's not really them, just a phony, mass-produced recording?

Your home is your castle, they used to say in the old days.

So it's a bit of an aggressively intimate act when you reach into someone's castle and set the phone ringing.

It's one thing if it's you, a real live human, on the phone trying to sell or fundraise.

But to get a robocall – it's like rushing in from the yard or out of a bath to grab the phone, and it's the ten-year-old next door asking if your refrigerator's running, you'd better go catch it.

I guess the FCC's hands are tied.

But to the pols who still think robocalls are a good idea: you'll never get my vote, and I know I'm not alone.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.