"Do Not Call" List Could Become Permanent

Thu Sep 13, 2007 12:31PM EDT

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You know and love the Do Not Call list. It may not be perfect, and it seems powerless to stop the automated calls I get from some company promising a great price on cleaning my carpets (and they'll clean the hallway for free!!!), but it's the best thing we have for getting rid of telemarketing nuisance.

The catch with Do Not Call (and it's a small one) is that your registration expires after five years. For the millions of people who signed up when it was rolled out in June 2003, that means their phone numbers (to the tune of 50 million of them) will abruptly be taken off the list in June 2008, without warning. You can, of course, re-register, but I expect many will have long since forgotten that they need to do so.

Good news: A bill introduced in the House on Monday would make Do Not Call entries permanent, eliminating the need to re-register phone numbers. Why is permanence a good thing? Best quote, courtesy of bill sponsor Mike Doyle: "I suspect very few people are saying, 'Gee, I really miss getting those telemarketing calls at dinner time – I wish the government would take me off the do not call list.'"

More news as it develops, but overall it sounds like legislation I can really get behind. To find out when your Do Not Call entry expires, visit the Verify section of the DNC website. To renew your registration (and there's no reason not to do so), visit the Register page. Assuming the bill doesn't make it into law in a timely fashion, make sure you do so before your five years runs out!

LINK: Bill Would Make 'Do Not Call' List Permanent 

Comments on "Do Not Call" List Could Become Permanent

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  • 1 Posted by commorancy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    Now if only they would create a do-not-mail list. I get tired of having to toss out some other company's garbage that keeps getting shoved into my mailbox. Nor do I relish the thought of having to follow arbitrary guidelines and spend the time it takes to get my address removed from their list. Worse, the school districts randomly just place things into the mailboxes without any way to get the address removed (it's a courtesy service from the post office). It's not as if the mailbox has unlimited space in there.

  • 2 Posted by isfatchris on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:25PM EDT Report Abuse

    What is the number for the do not call list

  • 3 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    Thats great! I love it! Now if they can only make mandatory fines for spam calls on cellphones, I wouldnt mind getting $100k each time some telemarketer called my cellphone...

  • 4 Posted by az6024283313 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:00PM EDT Report Abuse

    I went there and found that my registration ends in 2010 and reregistered and it only extended for 2 years! WTH? 2 YEARS? 2012. Can you say misguided at best?

  • 5 Posted by lilabner209 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:51PM EDT Report Abuse

    "WTH? 2 YEARS? 2012." You didn't extend it from 2010 to 2015, you extended it from 2007, the date that you did it. That's 5 years!!

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