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(tái)了一項(xiàng)新規(guī)定，意在遏制騷擾電話和垃圾信息的泛濫。根據(jù)規(guī)定，騷擾電話撥出公司的負(fù)責(zé)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(guān)部門的部長(zhǎng)表示，英國家庭每年接到大約十億個(gè)推銷電話。許多獨(dú)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(zhǎng)艾德·維濟(jì)（Ed Vaizey）將這些騷擾電話比作一場(chǎng)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(diào)查小組”表示，應(yīng)該出臺(tái)新規(guī)讓那些對(duì)人們生活帶來“嚴(yán)重騷擾”的推銷公司付出代價(jià)。

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

受這項(xiàng)規(guī)定的影響，“支付保障險(xiǎn)”的電話推銷員將面臨高額罰款，處罰金額高達(dá)年?duì)I業(yè)額的20%。

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

調(diào)查小組的執(zhí)行董事理查德·羅伊德（Richard Lloyd）在接受BBC節(jié)目采訪時(shí)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(zhí)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(dǎo)的個(gè)人信息販賣，已呈現(xiàn)愈演愈烈的態(tài)勢(shì)。但是羅伊德也告誡道，決策者應(yīng)避免現(xiàn)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.

“大眾希望看到聲譽(yù)良好的公司由更高一級(jí)的人在監(jiān)督，一旦有騷擾電話從該公司撥出，就會(huì)有人承擔(dān)責(zé)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(shù)向民眾推銷意外險(xiǎn)和支付保障險(xiǎn)。另外，還有來自債務(wù)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(diào)查小組稱，許多民眾并沒有意識(shí)到，接聽這些公司的電話其實(shí)是無形中允許這些公司聯(lián)絡(luò)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(jì)表示，“一直以來，廣大消費(fèi)者深受騷擾電話折磨。它們經(jīng)常在人們不方便接電話的時(shí)候來電，這讓許多獨(dú)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(gè)騷擾電話行動(dòng)計(jì)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(diào)查小組的工作已經(jīng)取得一定的進(jìn)展。我們加強(qiáng)了英國通訊管理局和ICO的合作，降低了排查違規(guī)公司的難度。同時(shí)，我們將降低處罰范圍，罰金最高可至50萬英鎊。”

（翻譯：菠蘿油八戒 編輯：Helen）