Telemarketers Be Gone

I think I blogged about the Do Not Call list a while back. I had heard that the bill which covered the Do Not Call registry had expired, and I had quite suddenly been deluged with telemarketing calls all day. My blissfully quiet days were gone.

Well, after a particularly aggravating few days last week, I decided to do a little googling to find out what happened to the registry and why I was being hounded.

The bottom line is: it was signed back into law.

"On Friday, February 15, 2008, the President signed into law:
H.R. 3541, the "Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007," which prohibits the automatic removal of telephone numbers registered on the Federal "do-not-call" registry; and

S. 781, the "Do-Not-Call Registry Fee Extension Act of 2007," which extends permanently the authority of the Federal Trade Commission to charge fees to telemarketers required to access the Federal "do-not-call" registry and specifies the fees to be charged."

Hooray! I think what happened to me in particular was the 5 year limit ran out. I signed up probably on the first or second day of its existence in 2003 and my number just fell off the list early or something. I noticed a pretty radical change in phone calls all of a sudden last fall. Anyway, the good news is that it's back on, and you don't need to remember to go back every so often to sign up again.

Go HERE right now to register your home phone, your cell phones, everything. Even if you've done it in the past, just do it again to be sure. Because telemarketers are such a bore and have such bad timing.