The Do Not Call list is a free registry that protects your phone privacy by allowing you to limit or eliminate the number of unsolicited phone calls that you receive. By registering your telephone number with the national registry, you can expect to see a decrease in the number of calls you receive within 31 days. The Do Not Call list, a joint effort of the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communication Commission, has been active since October, 2003.
The National Do Not Call List is easy to sign up for. To sign up for the Do Not Call List by telephone, simply call 1-888-383-1222. There you can enter your telephone number and within 31 days you will notice a decrease in the number of telemarketing calls that you receive. To sign up on the Internet, visit www.donotcall.gov, and click on the “register a number” icon. You can register both land line and mobile phones. The Do Not Call List is only meant for personal lines, however, so you will not be able to register business phone lines or fax machine numbers.
Once you have signed up for the National Do Not Call List, you can check that your number is listed by visiting www.donotcall.gov, or calling the toll free number 1-888-383-1222. Still getting more phone calls than you expected? The Do Not Call List is somewhat limited in its scope. This registry will not prevent tax exempt non-profits from calling you. A business that has a prior relationship with you is still permitted to call. If you have given written permission for a company to call you, they can. Also, calls that are noncommercial in nature and do not include unsolicited advertising are permitted under federal law.
If you are still receiving calls, you have some recourse. Telemarketing companies are required to update their do not call lists every 31 days. If, after a month, you are still receiving calls, it is time to move through the official complaint channels. To file a complaint against a telemarketing company, visit the official Do Not Call website at www.donotcall.gov, or call the toll free number 1-888-383-1222. You should have the name of the company that called or their phone number, as well as the time of their call. You will be asked to give your registered phone number as well as your name and address, although your name and address are not required to file a complaint.
Once a complaint is registered, it is sent to the FTC's Consumer Sentinel System. This is a secure database that can be accessed by state and federal law enforcement agencies across the country. The database contains information on Internet and telephone crimes across the country and can be accessed by over 1,000 agencies. Some of the agencies that use the Consumer Sentinel System for telemarketing related crime fighting are individual state's Attorney Generals and Better Business Bureaus. By providing all of this information in one database, telemarketing companies that routinely flaunt the rules of the Do Not Call registry can be tracked and brought to trial. Several companies to date have received financial penalties for violating the terms of the Do Not Call registry.
The Do Not Call registry was implemented to provide the consumer with some protection against the intrusive nature of telemarketing and phone solicitation. It is not a perfect system, as it does not cover all unwanted calls, and the degree of penalties placed on violators often depends on how persistent a particular state is willing to be in prosecution. It cannot be disputed, however, that the numbers of unwanted phone calls have greatly decreased since the registry's inception in late 2003. While phone numbers were initially intended to stay on the Do Not Call registry for five years, a recent government decision has been made that no numbers will be dropped from the list as the five year mark passes.
