In 1991, Congress enacted the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. §227 (TCPA) to address consumer complaints over the proliferation of unwanted marketing solicitations through the use of telephone dialing systems and facsimile machines. Congress found that such unregulated telemarketing practices were highly intrusive, implicated privacy concerns, and imposed public safety risks. Although state laws restricting such telemarketing existed, the state laws were ineffective when it came to interstate calls. Congress, therefore, enacted the TCPA as supplemental legislation to existing state laws and “to provide interstitial law preventing evasion of state law by calling across state lines.”
The TCPA prohibits commercial advertisements through artificial, prerecorded or automated telephone calls, faxes, and text messages to residential lines and cellular phones, except for when the consumer has expressly provided consent and except in certain other statutory exempt cases.
