美国国家公共电台 NPR--Stay-at-home dad takes on telemarketing companies targeting him and his family

Stay-at-home dad takes on telemarketing companies targeting him and his family

Transcript¹

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act lets you recover up to $500 for each violation² of the do not call registry. Nathen Barton fought back against telemarketers, and made some money in the process.

DWANE BROWN, HOST:

It feels like one of those unstoppable forces of modern life.

(SOUNDBITE OF PHONE RINGING)

BROWN: Those spam calls from an unknown number always trying to sell you something.

UNIDENTIFIED TELEMARKETER: Hi. I'm with Rian Real Estate - R-I-A-N. Corporate³ office in Dallas, Texas.

BROWN: Most people just ignore them, send them straight to voicemail. But Planet Money's Jeff Guo brings us the story of someone who tried to fight back and made some money in the process.

JEFF GUO, BYLINE⁴: A couple years ago, Nathen Barton was getting five, 10, sometimes 15 spam calls every day.

NATHEN BARTON: It's been everything - auto⁵ warranties⁶, medical insurance, gym memberships.

GUO: Nathen's a stay-at-home dad, and it was the middle of the pandemic, so he had some time on his hands. And he decided⁷ he was going to fight back against these telemarketers because there's actually this federal law which says that if a telemarketer calls you illegally without your consent, you can sue them, and you can win up to $1,500 dollars for every call you get. So Nathen thinks, OK, let me try this out. He starts picking up the phone and taking down names. And yeah, a lot of these calls are coming from scammers and identity thieves, but a surprising number of them you can trace back to legitimate⁸ companies, like big recognizable brands. It just takes some detective work because a lot of telemarketers won't tell you what company they're with, at least not at first.

BARTON: Sometimes you'll go through an agent or two, and then they'll transfer you to a name that you know. So then you're like, oh, Big Company X is the one who's actually behind this.

GUO: Bingo. That's when Nathen would bring on the lawsuit⁹. Nathen was suing these companies using the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the TCPA, and this law has actually been around for decades. Margot Saunders is a lawyer at the National Consumer Law Center. She says Congress was trying to give regular Americans a way to stop these spam calls.

MARGOT SAUNDERS: I think they envisioned that the individuals who received unwanted calls would be able to go into magistrates¹⁰ court, small claims courts, and teach the callers a lesson, and they would stop making the illegal calls.

GUO: And for the most part, this law has worked for Nathen. At this point, he's filed dozens of lawsuits¹¹, mostly by himself, and he's settling for thousands of dollars, sometimes much more. But it hasn't all been easy. Earlier this year, one of the telemarketers fought back. They convinced a judge that Nathen's lawsuit was frivolous¹², and the judge ordered Nathen to pay for the telemarketer's legal fees, which came out to $40,000. Eric Troutman is a defense¹³ lawyer who often represents companies that get sued by people like Nathen.

ERIC TROUTMAN: You know, there's instances where someone might go off and buy 80 cellphones just so that they can collect wrong number calls.

GUO: He says some of these people are abusing the system. But Nathen says that's not what he's doing. He's just trying to use the law as it was intended, to teach telemarketers a lesson. So he's appealing that court decision.

BARTON: I'm not going to put up with a lifetime of these junk calls because I disagree with how a judge interpreted a case.

GUO: Nathen says as long as the telemarketers keep calling him illegally, he plans to keep suing them back.

Jeff Guo, NPR News.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

3 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

6 warranties   

n.保证书，保单( warranty的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I read and compare warranties before purchasing. 我在购买前阅读和比较保修单。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• One way of ensuring reliability is insisting on guarantees and warranties. 要确保产品可靠性的一个方法，就是坚持制定产品的品质保证条款。 来自互联网

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

9 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

10 magistrates   

地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to come up before the magistrates 在地方法院出庭
• He was summoned to appear before the magistrates. 他被传唤在地方法院出庭。

11 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

12 frivolous   

adj.轻薄的；轻率的

参考例句：

• This is a frivolous way of attacking the problem.这是一种轻率敷衍的处理问题的方式。
• He spent a lot of his money on frivolous things.他在一些无聊的事上花了好多钱。

13 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。