Glossary
Spam call and text words, in plain English
The words you will see in TCPA cases, demand letters and court, explained simply. No law degree needed.
- A
- Arbitration clause
- Fine print that says disputes go to a private arbitrator instead of court. Spam texts often link to pages with these terms. It is safest not to click links or fill in forms from spammers; a screenshot keeps the record.
- Artificial or prerecorded voice
- A recorded message, a robot voice or an AI-generated voice. Calls like this to a cell phone need your permission first, and the rule covers each call. No minimum number of calls.
- Autodialer
- Equipment that dials numbers it generates randomly or in sequence. Since a 2021 Supreme Court decision, this definition is narrow, so most cases today rely on the Do Not Call, prerecorded voice and stop-request rules instead.
- C
- Caller ID rules
- Companies making sales calls have to send caller ID with a real number you can call back to ask them to stop. Blocked, fake or dead numbers can point to more rule-breaking.
- Carrier records
- The call and text logs your phone company keeps. They show dates, times and numbers even for calls and texts you deleted or blocked. You can usually request them yourself.
- Confidential settlement
- A settlement where both sides agree not to share the terms, often including the amount. Many TCPA settlements are confidential.
- Consent
- Permission to call or text you. For marketing robocalls and texts, the rules generally require prior express written consent: a signed agreement, which can be electronic, that clearly says you agree to marketing calls or texts at your number. A company cannot make it a condition of buying something.
- D
- Default judgment
- A judgment a court can enter when the company is properly served and does not show up or respond in time.
- Demand letter
- A written letter to a company that lists the calls and texts, explains the rules the sender believes apply, and asks for payment by a deadline. Some disputes settle at this stage, before anything is filed. Many companies never answer.
- Do Not Call Registry
- The free national list run by the FTC at donotcall.gov. Telemarketers have to check it. Sign up once and it never expires. How to sign up
- E
- Established business relationship
- A recent connection with a company that lets it call you even if you are on the Registry: 18 months after a purchase, or 3 months after you asked about something. It ends as soon as you tell them to stop.
- Export
- A full copy of your texts, call history and voicemail, saved from your phone to a file. Many people do one right away, then once a month, and keep every one.
- I
- Internal do-not-call list
- Every company that makes sales calls has to keep its own list of people who asked it to stop, follow a written policy, and honor those requests.
- J
- Judgment
- The court’s decision. If the court rules for you, the judgment says how much the company owes. Collecting it is a separate step if they do not pay.
- L
- Lead generator
- A company that collects people’s numbers, often through online forms, and sells them to other companies. A company can be responsible for calls and texts made on its behalf.
- M
- Mixed-use phone
- A cell phone used for both personal and work calls. It is often treated as personal, but how the number is listed in public, whose name is on the bill, and how much you use it for work all matter. More about phones used for work
- Q
- Quiet hours
- Sales calls and texts are not allowed before 8 AM or after 9 PM your local time.
- R
- Registered agent
- The person or company a business names to receive legal papers for it. You can usually find it on your state’s business registry.
- Revoking consent
- Taking back permission. You can do it any reasonable way: reply STOP, QUIT, END, CANCEL or UNSUBSCRIBE, say stop on a call, or send an email. Companies have to honor it within 10 business days.
- Robocall
- A call made with a recorded or artificial voice, or with an automatic dialing system.
- S
- Service
- Delivering court papers to the company in the way the law requires, usually by a sheriff, a process server or certified mail, depending on the court.
- Settlement
- An agreement where the company pays you and you drop your claim. It can happen before or after a case is filed.
- Small claims court
- A simpler court for smaller cases where you usually represent yourself. Dollar limits and rules vary by state.
- Spoofing
- Faking the caller ID so a call looks like it comes from a different number, often a local one. Spoofing to cheat or cause harm is against federal law.
- State telemarketing laws
- Several states, including Florida and Oklahoma, have their own laws on sales calls and texts. Some add protections on top of the federal rules.
- Statute of limitations
- The deadline to bring a claim. For federal TCPA claims it is generally four years from the call or text. State laws can differ.
- Statutory damages
- An amount set by law, so you do not have to prove you lost money. Under the TCPA it is up to $500 per violation for Do Not Call claims and $500 for prerecorded-voice calls, and up to $1,500 if a court finds the company did it willfully or knowingly.
- T
- TCPA
- The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, the federal law that limits sales calls, robocalls and texts and lets people sue over violations.
- Telephone solicitation
- A call or text that tries to get you to buy something, invest in something or sign up for a service. The Do Not Call rules apply to these.
- Texts as calls
- Many courts, including the Ninth Circuit (California and most of the West), treat a text message as a call under the TCPA. In 2026 the Seventh Circuit (Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin) ruled that texts are not calls for Do Not Call claims. This area is still developing. More about texts
- U
- Unidentified caller
- A sales call, voicemail or text that never says what company is behind it. Sales calls and texts are supposed to identify who they are from, so this can matter under the rules.
- V
- Violation
- Each call or text that breaks a rule. One call can sometimes break more than one rule.
- W
- Willful or knowing
- When a company breaks the rules on purpose or knows what it is doing, for example by texting again after you said STOP. A court can then award up to $1,500 per violation instead of up to $500.
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