How to Block Those Unwanted Political Robocalls:

[Michael Anthony]

How to Block Those Unwanted Political Robocalls by Herb Weisbaum from TODAY Money:

The fall campaign season is under way, and that means those dreaded political robocalls are about to start again.

“People hate them. They’re annoying and a real pain in the butt,” said Shaun Dakin, a digital marketing and communications consultant who started The National Political Do Not Contact Registry in 2007.

But political robocalls to landline phones are perfectly legal — even if your home phone number is on the National Do Not Call Registry.

“The Federal Trade Commission’s telemarketing sales rules only govern calls that are trying to sell you something, and since political calls aren’t trying to sell you anything, those calls are not subject to the do not call rules,” explained Bikram Bandy, who oversees the FTC’s Do Not Call program.

That means political parties, campaigns or political action committees are not required to maintain an internal do not call list and do not have to stop calling, even when you ask.

“Nobody likes these calls and everybody wants to get rid of them,” said Aaron Foss, who runs the website Nomorobo, which offers a free robocall blocking service for VoIP telephone customers.

Nomorobo already stops some political robocalls. Its call screening computer algorithms don’t consider the content or the sender. But Foss never advertised that fact because he wasn’t sure how politicians would react.

This week, Nomorobo made it possible for users to report political robocalls, so those numbers can be tagged and added to the company’s database. Subscribers who want to receive these calls can opt-out of political robocall blocking.

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