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The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is a UK register of domestic telephone numbers whose users have indicated that they do not wish to receive sales and marketing telephone calls.〔(TPS Web site ). Telephone number is 0345 070 0707〕 Registration is free of charge. The service is paid for by the direct marketing industry. There is a similar service for corporate users, the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS). Similar do not call lists are implemented in other countries. It is a legal requirement that all organisations (including companies, charities, voluntary organisations and political parties) do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless consent has been given;〔(TPS Web site home page )〕 however the TPS has no powers of enforcement,〔(BBC: Cold-call firms flout rules that block telemarketers, 2 July 2012 )〕 and a 2013 survey by Which? found that people registered on the TPS list received twice as many marketing calls as those not on the list.〔(BBC: Nuisance telephone calls 'overhaul needed', 10 June 2013 )〕 Enforcement is the responsibility of the Information Commissioner, which until 2012 did not have suitable legal powers to act,〔 but in 2012 acquired the power to impose fines of up to £500,000, although enforcing the rules was not easy given the vast amounts of money that companies which flouted the rules stood to make.〔 The TPS is the only such register that is enforced by law in the UK. It is regulated by Ofcom 〔(Ofcom Web site )〕 and enforced by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).〔(Information Commissioner's Office Web site )〕 It is run by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the organisation grouping telemarketers, on behalf of Ofcom; neither Ofcom nor the Government provide any funding. Loopholes include people who have, often unwittingly, consented to be contacted, and calls purporting to be for market research. The effectiveness of the TPS is limited. Enforcement is so lax that many organisations completely ignore it and do not check numbers.〔 There is no control over calls from outside the UK; many of the most abusive and sometimes fraudulent calls originate from overseas. A spokesman for the Direct Marketing Association—who run the TPS—said in July 2012 that it had received a dramatic increase in complaints from telephone subscribers cold-called by telemarketing firms, and that some firms simply chose to ignore the rules. The DMA sent between 1,000-2,000 complaints to the Information Commissioner's Office each month, yet no penalty fines had been imposed in at least 18 months.〔 The head of the TPS said candidly about the service's failings, in a 2013 interview "I would completely understand if the Guardian () wrote a 'TPS is broken' headline" 〔(The Guardian newspaper:Plagued by nuisance phone calls, 16 February 2013 )〕 The similarly named Government Telephone Preference Scheme is quite different; it is a system used since 1952 by the General Post Office and its successor British Telecom for disabling outgoing calls from all landlines if the telephone network is overloaded during an emergency; only vital lines which are registered with the Scheme may make outgoing calls when it is activated. == History == Residential users have been able to register on the list since May 1999 under the Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999. The list has statutory force under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. From 25 June 2004 corporate subscribers were also allowed to register on the list under Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2004.〔(S.I. 2004 No. 1039 )〕 In 2012 the enforcement powers of the ICO and penalties were much strengthened; however in 2013 it was still described as "no longer fit for purpose", and its head said "there is legislation to back us up. But the rules are complex, have loopholes, are split between agencies, tend to lag technology advances, and have been low priority".〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Telephone Preference Service」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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