Beginning on October 16, 2013, two new important FCC regulations that broaden business liability under The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) will go into effect. These new rules apply to both a consumer’s land lines and to text messages sent to cell phones.

Under the old rules, there was an exception from liability for telemarketing calls or text messages placed with the prior express consent of the recipient.  The FCC concluded that persons who knowingly release their phone numbers have in effect given their permission to be called at the number which they had provided a business absent instructions to the contrary.

Under the new rules, the exception from liability will only be effective if the consumer has physically or electronically signed a written agreement that clearly authorizes the business to send advertisements or telemarketing messages using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or pre-recorded voice message to a specific telephone number.  The agreement must have a clear and conspicuous disclosure that signing the agreement is optional and cannot be a condition of purchasing any goods or services, and that a consumer doing so consents to receiving these types of calls at a particular number.

The second big change concerns the elimination of the established business relationship exception.  Under the old rules a business could avoid liability for otherwise prohibited calls if the business had a prior relationship with the consumer.  Now, even business with a relationship must obtain the same written consent of consumers before they may be called with an auto-dialer or be left a robo-message.

I suggest that the following statement be conspicuously posted on your web site or in your written contract:  “By checking this box I hereby consent to receiving auto-dialed and pre-recorded messages at the telephone number listed above.  I further understand that this authorization is not a condition of any purchase of goods or services.”

Finally, be sure to keep a record of this consent on file for purposes of proving the consent for a period of four years.

Windows 8 Review – My Personal Experience 

Back in the late 90’s and early 00’s it was very common to purchase a new computer about every 18 months.  This was due to technology upgrades to both the software and hardware of the systems.  This schedule was broken in about 2002 when Windows came out with their XP platform, and similarly, Apple’s Mac product did not change that much over the same period.

Over the past two years, I have been limping along with my old desktop and laptop (which I sync to travel).  Even though I did a factory reinstall last spring, and have many programs to keep my computers free of malware, etc. they were showing their age.  On my last trip out of town, the shift key on the laptop would not work, and I met the end of my rope.

Which brought me to my 1^st dilemma – Since I would need to learn Windows 8 as a new operating system, was it time to switch to a Mac and learn that operating system?  I read many reviews and spoke to many users.  In the end, I came to the conclusion that since I spend the majority of my time using my computers for business work with Microsoft Office, Windows 8 was a better choice for me than a Mac. (While there is now an Microsoft Office Suite for Mac it is not as robust as Office on a PC.)  I also considered getting a chrome book and work Office in the cloud.  However, as an attorney my client files are extremely confidential.  I have a lot of anti-hacking software on my computer, and I just did not trust the cloud to handle the confidences of my clients.  Therefore, I decided to stay with PC and skip the Mac.

That Sunday I went to my favorite computer store (Staples, believe it or not) and bought a new desktop tower (HP with Intel chips) and a new laptop (Toshiba with Intel chips.); but no touch screens.  I worked on uninstalling my paid for programs from the old computers, reinstalling them on the new computers, and moving all my old data over to the new machines.  I was greatly surprised to find that I had both machines up and running and that I was able to do what I used to do on my XP machines in just 6 hours.

I have had these two new computers for about 2 weeks now.  I am now as proficient in my business uses with Windows 8 as I was with XP.  It was a far easier conversion than I was lead to believe.  What I have not had a chance to do is realize the power of the new operating system.  Basically, I am using the computer like an XP machine and have not touched the 100’s of app’s that come with the machine, or are available to me as downloads. I am sure I will start to use these apps over the coming weeks, and I will then put up part two of this review.

In conclusion:  I was very surprised and happy to find I could take 2 cold machines out of the box and be back in business in just 6 hours.  Using Windows 8 to do my old XP tasks was easy to initiate, and not the problem everyone says it would be.  I have found the software to be fast and robust – instead of restarting my computer a few times a day, I now go days without a restart.

All in All I give a two thumbs up rating to Windows 8 and recommend it to those of you out there who are considering an upgrade to their computer systems.