I love reading responses from PR people for trade associations everyone despises. Today's case in point: the response from the American Teleservices Association to AT&T's alleged violation of FCC telemarketing rules. The FCC accuses AT&T of pitching additional services to consumers that had supposedly specifically requested freedom from AT&T telemarketing calls.

The response from the ATA quoted in The New York Times was: "For a decade, [the FCC hasn't] done [its] job. Now [the FCC is] adding new regulation." No further elaboration appears to be available on the ATA Web site; the most recent news release is from October 14.

This statement is wrong one way or another. If the FCC hasn't been doing its job, then the regulation is not new. If the regulation is new, there was no job not to be done in the past. This tortured logic is typical of PR responses when there is no response. If the allegations are true, AT&T didn't honor consumers' requests. And, just because the police let most people drive on the Merritt Parkway at 75 miles per hour doesn't mean you're not liable for a speeding ticket when they catch you.

As for AT&T, its official response says: "We are confident we can persuade the FCC...that there were not 78 do-not-call violations." In other words, there were only 77. Now that's reaching out, well done.