The US Do Not Call List, established in 2003, prohibits telemarketers from calling those who do not wish to be called. The list must comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and registering is a simple process. However, some businesses are exempt and political and survey calls remain exempt. Canada has similar legislation.
The Do Not Call List is the result of US federal legislation that prohibits telemarketers from calling persons they designate that they do not wish to be called. The Do Not Call List or Register was created by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 2003 and must comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, signed in 1991.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) grew out of many complaints from private citizens about harassment by telemarketers. Even when telemarketers were polite, answering calls from people trying to sell them things was often a hassle. However, the TCPA used to be difficult to enforce because you had to get a call from a telemarketer to ask them not to call you. Clearly, more needed to be done to establish legal grounds for prosecuting telemarketers who continued to call disinterested private citizens.
By establishing a National Do Not Call List and Registry, people can now state unequivocally that they do not want to be called by lawyers. A person can prove that they do not wish to be called by the registry, and any telemarketer or salesperson calling a private home has one month to remove the person from any caller list. If a name is not removed and calls from the same company continue, citizens can file a complaint with the offending company. This process is facilitated with Caller ID, which helps connect phone numbers to registered businesses.
Registering in the call list is not a very simple procedure. You simply visit the online Do Not Call Registry and enter your phone numbers, including cell phones and an email address. You receive an email with a link, which you click to confirm your phone numbers from the Call Not Called List. It takes about a minute to register. By law, telemarketers must not call cell phones under any circumstances, but it doesn’t hurt to add a cell phone number, just in case.
Some people cannot register on the Do Not Call List. Lines of business are exempt from the Do Not Call legislation. If, at any time, you allow companies to contact you, you may still receive offensive calls, even if your name appears on the Do Not Call List. There are also some companies that may call you despite the Do Not Call list.
While the Do Not Call list protects against unsolicited sales calls, companies you are already doing business with can call you. For example, your cable company might call and offer a package deal, or the companies that own the newspapers you subscribe to might call to renew a subscription. Businesses you owe money to can always contact you unless you file for bankruptcy, even if your name appears on the Do Not Call list.
Those conducting legitimate searches are allowed to contact people on the cold calling list. Political calls also remain exempt. Some survey companies may not be as legit as they appear. If a research company asks your permission to make a follow-up call, and you agree, you can call and try to sell them something. That was the case with the Dove Foundation, which conducts seemingly legitimate research and then follows up with a sales call. In some states, legislation prevents groups like the Dove Foundation from doing this.
In 2004, Canada enacted legislation similar to the US, establishing a Do Not Call Registry. In both countries, registering with the list can help prevent inroads into privacy and result in fewer unwanted calls. You can also tell a telemarketer or person performing a survey to remove your name from a call list. This request must be granted even if you are not registered in the cold calling list.
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