What is the FTC? The Federal Trade Commission regulates "big business" to prevent them from "pulling one over" on us, the consumers. The FTC was established in 1914 and has increased its role of protection for consumers in many areas since that time. One of the protective laws for consumers has been the Telemarketing Sales Rule. There are other rules that are fairly well known as well, such as the Pay Per Call Rule and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

This particular branch of the FTC is governed by the Consumer Protection, Competition and Economics Bureau. This bureau is just a small part of all that the Federal Trade Commission entails. Essentially, the bureau is there to stop "unfair, deceptive or fraudulent practices" against the consumer. The bureau, along with the rest of the FTC, reports all of its activity to Congress.

The Consumer Protection, Competition and Economics Bureau include seven divisions and each division has its own part to play. These divisions are as follows:

1.    The Division of Advertising Practices deals with "truth in advertising"

2.    The Division of Consumer and Business Education instructs the consumer and business owners on the laws and how to manage their affairs. There is a website for more information related to this division www.consumer.gov

3.    The Division of Enforcement deals with "law enforcement activities to protect consumers" and which seems to have the widest area of protection to cover as well. This division handles problems on the Internet, in scholarship fraud, even in cases where small businesses are billed for "unordered" copy machine ink and toner (toner-phoner scam)

4.    The Division of Financial Practices is responsible for "lending and financial practices affecting customers." This includes the faith in lending act, subprime loan practices, Fair Debt Collection Act and makes sure the credit agencies maintain consumers’ privacy.

5.    The Division of Marketing Practices manages the laws that help prevent fraudulent marketing practices. It is this division that stops the pyramid schemes, the mail order scams and the Internet and telephone scams. It is this division that gave the consumer the "The Telemarketing Sales Rule, which prohibits deceptive sales pitches and protects consumers from abusive, unwanted, and late-night sales calls." It is this rule that has recently been expanded to stop telemarketers from calling our cell phones. That new rule goes into affect September 1, 2009.

6.    The Division of Planning and Information is the bureau that has all the numbers and websites you as a consumer need to protect yourself and gives attorneys and law enforcement officers all the assistance they need to enforce all the rules and laws created by Congress to protect the consumer.

7.    The Division of Privacy and Identity Protection is the newest division in the bureau. It has identity protection against ID THEFT as its primary function, but it also protects consumer privacy, credit and information reporting and security.

However, this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the FTC is concerned. This commision has multiple areas that it controls. One thing is certain; it all revolves around consumer awareness and protection.

The moment Do Not Call came out, man, I signed up! In fact, I signed up so many friends and family from my desktop computer that the Registry wouldn't accept any more phone numbers from my home! Still, wasn't that a wonderful relief, for what was it, a year or two? Then somehow the telemarketers were allowed back but only to your cell phone?

Then we were allowed to put our cell phones on the Do Not Call Registry; the only glitch was you had to call FROM the cell phone you were registering. OK, YES, it was all my fault!

It was only because I had signed up my ENTIRE corner of the world to do not call that you had to register your cell phone and no one Else's the next time it came out! There, feel better now? I am humiliated in front of the entire world of HubPages! :)

Well, the Federal Trade Commission has fixed the telemarketers little red wagon for good!

(I hope)

Effective September the first telemarketers will find their work slowing to a crawl! They cannot just push a button like a bingo or a lottery wheel and call whoever the dial pulls up! Now, the telemarketers must have YOUR PERMISSION before they can call you and try to sell you....whatever it is they are trying to sell you.

What are they trying to sell anyway? I've never gotten that far with them! I used to enjoy baiting them. I would see the 1-800 number, jerk up the phone and chirpily announce

"Americans against telemarketers. How may I help you?" But even that got old after a while.

Let me think...how many people do you suppose will actually give telemarketers permission to call them? Well, all the telemarketers’ mothers might give them the OK. You think?