Permanent Do Not Call List En Route to Bush

Good news for all harried users of those things called telephones: Both the House and the Senate have now passed an extension to the National Do Not Call registry, which has been officially modified to make listings permanent. Just list your phone number once in the DNC and you'll be registered as long as that number is yours.

Assuming, of course, that Bush signs it into law. There's no reason to expect that he won't.

Under the new rules, you'll only need to re-register if you change phone numbers. Under the current rules, DNC registrations expire after five years. The first wave of expirations is set to occur on June of this year, five years since DNC first went into effect and millions of consumers signed up.

If you still aren't registered, now's the time to do so. Visit donotcall.gov and follow the instructions there.

It may take up to 72 hours to receive a confirmation email from the DNC, after which telemarketers (sans pollsters, charities, political campaigners, and hordes of other exempted people) have 31 days to remove you from their calling lists.

LINK: Do Not Call Registry extension fast-tracked to the President