騷擾電話招人煩 英政府開50萬英鎊罰單

Bosses of nuisance call companies could be hit with £500,000 fines in a Government crackdown on unwanted calls and texts.

英國政府出臺了一項新規定，意在遏制騷擾電話和垃圾信息的泛濫。根據規定，騷擾電話撥出公司的負責人將被處以50萬英鎊的罰款（約合人民幣500萬元）。

Up to one billion cold calls are received by British families each year leaving many elderly people 'too scared to answer the phone', ministers said.

各相關部門的部長表示，英國家庭每年接到大約十億個推銷電話。許多獨自在家的老人“都不敢接電話”。

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said nuisance calls were a 'plague' on families and had to stop.

文化部長艾德·維濟（Ed Vaizey）將這些騷擾電話比作一場急需制止的“瘟疫”。

The Government's Nuisance Calls Task Force said new rules should be introduced to make company bosses responsible for cold-callers causing ‘severe distress’ to families.

政府成立的“騷擾電話調查小組”表示，應該出臺新規讓那些對人們生活帶來“嚴重騷擾”的推銷公司付出代價。

Under the plan, Payment Protection Insurance cold-callers could face fines of up to 20 per cent of their annual turnover.

受這項規定的影響，“支付保障險”的電話推銷員將面臨高額罰款，處罰金額高達年營業額的20%。

Which? executive director and taskforce chairman Richard Lloyd said many British firms were ‘breaking the law’.

調查小組的執行董事理查德·羅伊德（Richard Lloyd）在接受BBC節目採訪時表示，英國許多公司“都在違法”。

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the way in which the law was enforced had not been good enough.

但是，執法力度還不夠。

Mr Lloyd said the trade in personal data, responsible for the vast majority of nuisance calls, was ‘out of control’. He also called on regulators to clamp down on the abuse of existing legislation.

由這些公司主導的個人信息販賣，已呈現愈演愈烈的態勢。但是羅伊德也告誡道，決策者應避免現有法律的濫用。

‘We want to see business with good reputations that aren't keeping a close enough eye on this making sure that there is someone senior on their board who will be held to account if those nuisance calls are being generated by that businesses activity,’ Mr Lloyd said.

“大衆希望看到聲譽良好的公司由更高一級的人在監督，一旦有騷擾電話從該公司撥出，就會有人承擔責任。”羅伊德說。

Between April and June this year, 40,000 people complained to the Information Commissioner about unwanted live or automated calls to their phones.

在今年的4月到6月，英國信息專員辦公室共收到4萬份人工或錄音騷擾電話的投訴。

Most focused on accident or PPI claims, as well as some debt consolidation company calls.

被投訴的騷擾電話多數向民衆推銷意外險和支付保障險。另外，還有來自債務整合公司的推銷電話。

The Nuisance Call Task Force said many consumers did not know that they had unwittingly given their consent to be contacted by these companies.

調查小組稱，許多民衆並沒有意識到，接聽這些公司的電話其實是無形中允許這些公司聯絡他們。

Mr Vaizey said: ‘For too long, nuisance calls have plagued consumers, often at very inconvenient times of the day and in some cases, leaving vulnerable people like the elderly too scared to answer the phone.

維濟表示，“一直以來，廣大消費者深受騷擾電話折磨。它們經常在人們不方便接電話的時候來電，這讓許多獨自在家的老人害怕接電話。

‘That's why we're determined to tackle this scourge through the first-ever nuisance calls action plan.

“這是我們決定用首個騷擾電話行動計劃痛擊騷擾電話的原因。”

‘We've already made progress, including making it easier for Ofcom to share information with the ICO about companies breaking the rules, and we're currently looking at lowering or removing the legal threshold before firms could be hit with fines of up to £500,000.’

“目前調查小組的工作已經取得一定的進展。我們加強了英國通訊管理局和ICO的合作，降低了排查違規公司的難度。同時，我們將降低處罰範圍，罰金最高可至50萬英鎊。”