Indiana Law Interfering With Citizens’ Free Speech Rights Found Unconstitutional

WASHINGTON, June 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Free political speech and the
rights of the citizens of Indiana to communicate openly with each other about
politics, government activity and elections received a big boost in Indiana,
when on June 10, 2010, a Special Circuit Court Judge announced his decision in
the case of the State of Indiana v. FreeEats.com, Inc., in favor of the
Defendant, FreeEats.com, Inc., and its clients.

At issue was the application of Indiana’s Automated Dialing Machines Statute
(“ADMS”) (Indiana Code 24-5-14) prohibiting “automated” calls and whether it
applied to the “Artificial Intelligence Call” (AIC) systems employed by
FreeEats. The state had sued FreeEats saying that its calls on behalf of one of
its clients violated the ADMS. FreeEats sought an Order prohibiting Indiana from
applying the ADMS law to its AIC systems and successfully argued that
prohibiting the use of the more efficient, faster and less expensive “Artificial
Intelligence Call” (AIC) processes it employs unduly restricted the ability of
citizens to communicate about political and election matters, and violated the
Freedom of Speech provisions of the Indiana Constitution and was, therefore,
unconstitutional.

In addition, FreeEats argued successfully that the ability of the “Artificial
Intelligence Call” (AIC) system to obtain consent from respondents is just as
efficient and effective as the ADMS’s requirements to use live operators with
the added advantage of being at least (i) 10-times less expensive; and (ii)
25-times faster in getting the messages out to Indiana voters.

In its ruling, released Thursday, June 10, 2010, the Court agreed, saying, “The
state has identified that the sole purpose of the ADMS is a limitation on the
total volume of automated calls. Such a limitation has the sole effect of
limiting the political speech in question. It has no effect whatsoever on
whether an individual receiver of the call might perceive the call to be
annoying or a nuisance. Nor would the individual receiver of the call have a
different opinion if the call were made by a live operator. Thus the effect of
the ADMS to the extent that it requires such calls to be made by a live operator
as opposed to an automated system, is to materially burden the political speech
in question, not protect the peace and quiet of the Indiana residents in their
homes.”

This case was brought by former Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter. The
parties are hopeful that current Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller will
recognize the significant free speech benefits of the judge’s decision and avoid
prolonging costly litigation over a matter that is so important to the rights of
the citizens of Indiana.

The Court’s decision also recognized that the U.S. Supreme Court has recently
weighed in on free speech issues of this type in a case referred to as the
“Citizens United Decision” of January 21, 2010, determining that entities, such
as businesses, have free speech rights in the United States.

Gabriel S Joseph III, President of FreeEats, dba ccAdvertising, and the
developer of the unique “Artificial Intelligence Call” (AIC) system was pleased
by the ruling, affirming, “With our unique and proprietary AIC system we can
ensure that the requirements outlined in the Court’s ruling will be implemented
and that Hoosiers who were previously prohibited from participating in this
important aspect of the political process will now have the opportunity to
participate. ccAdvertising will continue to comply with all such requirements.
We are extremely pleased that the constitutionality of open and free
communication under the United States and Indiana Constitutions has been upheld.
This ruling affirms that the ccAdvertising programs which ran in 2006, and which
were the subject of this case, were legal at that time. We will ensure that any
future programs that ccAdvertising may implement for its political clients in
the state of Indiana will continue to operate within the freedom of speech
guidelines this ruling has affirmed.”

When asked if he anticipated the state might appeal, Mr. Joseph said,
“ccAdvertising believes that the processes we use are the most effective form of
political free speech in use in America today. That is why people notice when we
run our programs, as they did in Indiana in September 2006, when this case was
originally filed. This is particularly true in the growth of the ‘Smart Phone’
(mobile phones) arena. For these reasons and many others, I am hoping that we
can all agree that maintaining the rights of free political speech using this
‘most effective’ channel is a cause that will be protected and therefore, the
state will look on this decision as a good and clear statement of every
citizen’s right to communicate freely about our essential political process.”

About FreeEats.com -FreeEats.com is a privately-held, data-base company doing
business as ccAdvertising and which is headquartered in Virginia using a
proprietary “Artificial Intelligence Call” (AIC) technology for surveys, data
acquisition, voter/client mobilization and activation. Its “Artificial
Intelligence Call” (AIC) system allows FreeEats to ask multiple questions to
which the responder gives voice answers rather than an alternate technology
which uses telephone push buttons to indicate the responses. FreeEats is
scrupulous in its efforts to comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

Contact:
Gabriel Joseph, President, FreeEats.com, Inc. and ccAdvertising
Phone: 703.234.2200
E-mail: gjoseph@ccAdvertising.com

SOURCE FreeEats.com