So the TCPA is an unconstitutional mess and now Congress wants to send people to jail for violating it. Cool.

As we reported back in June, a Democratic Senator had proposed a Senate bill that would send folks that willfully violate the TCPA to jail for up to three years. That means people who send COMPLETELY LEGITMATE calls using the same technology the bad guys use to send scam calls might be thrown in jail for a misread of the massive, incredibly vague, shifting and at times incomprehensible patchwork of TCPA jurisprudence.

That makes sense. Or, it's the worst possible idea. One or the other.

Either way, TCPAWorld.com just keeps becoming more and more valuable.

In any event, the house bill (HR 4919) maintains the same odious name as the Senate bill–the “Deter Obnoxious, Nefarious, and Outrageous Telephone Calls” Act (shoot me now)–and was introduced by both a Republican and a Democratic house member.

Given the temperature of partisan bickering in this nation (side note, political parties are unconstitutional and ought to be banned) it is remarkable that the two sides can agree upon anything these days. Of course, the one thing they can agree on–adding criminal penalties to the impossible-to-comply-with TCPA that doesn’t work to prevent robocalls to begin with–is, well, pretty dumb.

So to recap: there is now bipartisan support in the House for a bill that tracks a Senate version by the same name that will (likely) soon make violating the TCPA a CRIMINAL offense.

People are literally already pleading the fifth in responding to discovery in civil case. This is happening. Its real. Right now.

Hope you’re paying attention.