You should be hearing a lot fewer of those maddening pre-recorded telephone pitches for everything from car insurance to debt-consolidation services.

Telemarketers now need written permission from consumers in advance in order to solicit them through automated pre-recorded telemarketing messages, sometimes called robo-calls, the Federal Trade Commission said.

The new rules went into effect Tuesday.

Even people who have not signed up for the federal Do Not Call registry, as well as those who have done business in the past with the solicitors, now are protected from unwanted automatic calls.

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