OBAMARAMA

Following up on a New York Times article that exposed telemarketing firms that prey on older Americans, Sen. Obama sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission “to express my concern that the Federal Trade Commission is not doing more to deter such schemes and to protect elderly consumers from abusive and fraudulent telemarketing practices.”

This Direct Marketing News article has more:

In his May 21 letter, Mr. Obama said, “yesterday, the New York Times published an investigation into telemarketing fraud schemes that exploit vulnerable American seniors, often robbing them of their dignity, their good credit, and even the life savings and financial resources they rely on to pay for food or medication. I am writing to express my concern that the Federal Trade Commission is not doing more to deter such schemes and to protect elderly consumers from abusive and fraudulent telemarketing practices.”

…Mr. Obama asked the FTC to answer six questions, including “what, if anything, is the FTC doing to assess and address the particular consumer protection challenges faced by seniors or other groups of American consumers who may be especially vulnerable to abuse?” and “In particular, what is the FTC doing to regulate the sale of telemarketing databases to companies that are under investigation or have been prosecuted for fraud?”

He asked for a response by June 8, 2007.

“We have a very long, 25 year-plus record fighting against telemarketing fraud, and we are looking forward to providing all of that information to the Senator,” said Eileen Harrington, deputy director of the bureau of consumer protection at the FTC.

The piece also quotes “a privacy and information policy consultant” who observes that “This issue involves telemarketing fraud along with cheating the elderly — two things that together make it a perfect issue for politicians.”