Santa Monica, CA — Author and consumer advocate Jamie Court hailed the Congressional restoration of the telemarketing “do not call” list as a harbinger of the next populist movement to take back Americans’ privacy and other personal freedoms lost to corporations during the last twenty years.

In his book “Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Personal Freedom And What You Can Do About It” (Tarcher/Putnam), Court documents the last two decades as the “Age of the Corporateer” — when companies routinely put their commercial gain about individuals’ and societal rights such as privacy.

“Never before in modern times has Congress acted this quickly against large corporate interests to protect individuals’ rights,” said Court, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. “Congress’s 24 hour delivery of a ‘do not call’ list is a referendum on the popular will to stop invasions of privacy by large corporations which take advantage of our time, phone lines and families. The proponents of privacy rights won a victory today, but the banks, insurers, and credit card companies are pushing for new victories with fast moving legislation to preempt state privacy laws that are stronger than federal ones. The populist anger that spurred this vote should convince every member of Congress that in the privacy debate there are only two sides, for and against.”

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is a California based non-profit and non-partisan consumer watchdog organization. For more information visit us on the web at http://www.consumerwatchdog or http://www.corporateering.org

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