Law / United States / 
Massachusetts
Automatic Telephone Dialing Systems and Telephone Solicitation Disclosures
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 159, §§ 19B-19E
In force.
A telephone contact rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Disclosure
As of .
What it requires
- If you sell or use an automatic telephone dialing system in Massachusetts, defined as terminal equipment that stores or produces telephone numbers using a random or sequential number generator and can deliver a prerecorded message, design and operate it to prevent dialing any number a customer has asked their own common carrier not to call, and to automatically release the called party's line within five seconds after they hang up.
- If you are a common carrier, let a customer notify you, at no charge, that they do not wish to receive automatic-dialing-system calls, and offer that opportunity when their telephone is installed and at least once a year afterward.
- Before saying anything else besides a greeting, state your identity, the trade name of the person you represent, and the kind of goods or services you are offering, when soliciting a sale by telephone at a prospective buyer's residence, and do not use a plan, scheme, or ruse that misrepresents your true status or purpose for doing so.
What this law does
Section 19B defines an automatic telephone dialing system as terminal equipment that stores or produces numbers with a random or sequential number generator and delivers a prerecorded message.
Section 19D requires such a system, if sold or used in the Commonwealth, to be designed to prevent the selection or dialing of a telephone number a customer has listed under section 19C. Section 19D also requires such a system to automatically create a disconnect signal within five seconds after the called party hangs up, releasing the called party's line. Section 19C lets a customer of a common carrier notify that carrier that they do not wish to receive automatic-dialing-system calls.
A common carrier may not charge a customer for being placed on that no-call list, and must offer the customer the opportunity to give this notification when a telephone is installed and at least annually after that.
Section 19E separately requires anyone soliciting a residential sale by telephone to state, before any other statement besides a greeting, the identity of the person making the call, the trade name of the person the caller represents, and the kind of goods or services offered, and bars a plan, scheme, or ruse that misrepresents the caller's true status or purpose.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app sends automated outreach.