Do Not Call Registry Gets Glowing Reviews

coondoggie writes to tell us that in a recent report to Congress by the FTC, the National Do Not Call Registry got glowing reviews. They seem to be well established now with $21 million in fees in the bank, 22 successful court cases, and an almost 70% approval rating. "In 2007, a total of 6,242 entities paid fees totaling $21,602,003 for access to the National Registry. According to the FTC, telemarketers and sellers can access registered telephone numbers and pay the appropriate fee for that access, if any, through an Internet website dedicated to that purpose. The only information about consumers that companies receive from the National Registry is the registered telephone number. Since the Registry's inception, a total of 18,197 unique entities have paid fees for access to the National Registry. The total amount of fees paid by all entities since the inception of the National Registry through the end of 2007 is $80,629,778, the report stated."

Comments

Two problems still

[BadAnalogyGuy]

1) Still opt-out style. Unless you add yourself to the list, you are fair game for callers

2) Still ineffective against pollsters, politicians, and fundraisers

It's better than nothing, but there are certainly ways to make it better.

Re:Two problems still

[Tebriel]

Tell them to cease and desist or you will file harassment charges.

Re:Two problems still

[PlatyPaul]

Actually, I'm surprised that there hasn't been mention of anyone opt-bombing the system, as your number is only confirmed when registering by phone - they simply require an email confirmation if you do it online.

All you'd need to do is direct all incoming emails @yourdomainnamegoeshere.com to one account, set up an auto-opt system and an auto-respond system, run through all numbers in your area code.

Re:Two problems still

[Obfuscant]

"2) Still ineffective against pollsters, politicians, and fundraisers" That is covered under freedom of speech.

Actually, it isn't. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to use my property to conduct your speech. The freedom of pollsters to "speak" to me ends at the demarc, where I start paying for the wires.

It's ineffective simply because the politicians get money from fundraisers and hire pollsters to push-poll their constituents. They wrote their own exemption into the law.

They exemption they DO NOT HAVE, is if you tell them explicitely not to call you. THAT makes the next call illegal.

Re:Two problems still

[lgw]

Please use "example.com" when you need an example domain name. That's what it's there for. It's simple politeness.

Not the end state

[smittyoneeach]

If things move to the point where it is socially unacceptable to bother people at home, then this is a good transitional state.
No one bothers people on cell phones. Probably due to pricing. Interesting, how the flat rate for the home line makes spamming people somehow acceptable.

Re:Not the end state

[BadAnalogyGuy]

No, they don't bother people on cellphones because it is illegal. It has nothing to do with pricing.

Re:Not the end state

[martinw89]

That doesn't seem to stop the text message spam and occasional bogus calls I get. I just don't answer anything that's not in my phonebook at this point.

Re:Not the end state

[omris]

My understanding of WHY it was illegal to bother people on cell phones though was that it costs money to the person you're calling. Unlike landlines which only charge for outgoing calls.

Like a collection agency cannot cost you money in an attempt to collect what you owe them and likewise can't call cell lines.

At least that's the way of it in my home state.

Re:Not the end state

[Hatta]

No one bothers people on cell phones.

But people on cell phones bother everyone.

Re:Not the end state

[Anonymous Codger]

Illegal or not, over the past year I've gotten a huge number of telemarketing calls on my cell. Since putting it on the do-not-call list those calls have stopped.

Re:Not the end state

[Lord Apathy]

I've had my current cell for a number of years now. I really can't figure out how I did it but some how I rigged my phone not to ring if your not in my phonebook. I have no clue how I did it but it works. It is the main feature on my phone, nokia 6820, that is why I won't part with it.

One of the monkeys down the phone store tried to talk me into a new palm beast with a 300 price tag. I told him why I kept the old one and he called bullshit until I showed him. He still insists that it is impossible.

My saying is if my phone doesn't know you I don't want to talk to you.

Re:Telemarketers access the DNC registry??

[HomerJ]

If you don't have access to the list, how are you supposed to know who not to call?

Re:Pay for access to the list?

[crow]

Nope, that's exactly how it works. The trick is that if they call people on the list, they get fined, so it's cheaper to buy access to the list.

Still too many loopholes

[elrous0]

I don't get nearly as many telemarketing calls as I used to, but I've noticed (and oth ers have too) that many telemarketers who call me still exploit two major loopholes in the law:

• The "if you've done business with me in the recent past" loohole--A lot of credit card companies are essentially selling telemarketers the rights to call you on their behalf (if you have one of their credit cards). So now instead of getting calls that say "Hi, I would like to sell you product A" I'm getting calls that say "Hi, I'm calling on behalf of Discover. I would like to sell you product A." A new low even by credit card company standards.
• The "polls, research, charities" loophole--Now I get a lot of calls from companies claming to be doing market research or polls, when they're actually just trying to sell something. I also get calls from for-profit companies who've somehow scammed their way into 501(c)(3) non-profit status, trying to pass themselves off as a charity as they hawk their product to me.

Overall, things have improved a great deal. My telemarketing calls have probably dropped by about 75% since this law was introduced. But I still get WAY more than I should be getting (which should be none). Until they close these loopholes, a landline is still a bit of a pain in the ass.

Fortunately, both groups use computer autodialers which let me spot them very easily. If there is even the slightest pause after I say "Hello?" I know it's a telemarker (a normal person will respond immediately, an autodialer takes a little time to connect you with a live salesman). I've also found it helpful to always give my voicemail number at work as my "phone number" with any new company I do business with (telemarketers never leave messages).

I have a cousin who actually LOVES to get telemarketing calls, though. He has found all kinds of creative ways to screw with them. He will try to keep them on the line as long as possible, encouraging them with lots of questions and feigned interest, only to tell them "No" at the end (time is money for telemarketers). He will ask them "Hey could you hang on just a minute?" then put the phone down and go watch TV. My personal favorite is when he responds to them with "EXCUSE ME, but I'm trying to masturbate here!"

Re:Still too many loopholes

[gnick]

You missed a loophole - My personal bane. I get calls regularly with a recorded message asking me if I'd like to save money on my credit card bills - Caller ID blocked & no identification on the line. The only options are to press '1' to indicate interest or hang up. I've pressed '1' twice. The first time, I asked repeatedly who I was talking to. At first, he told me that "I work for Mastercard and Visa". I pressed on because that's obviously BS. He eventually told me that he "worked for 250 different banks". When I asked who actually signed his checks, he hung up on me. The second time I clicked through, I pretended to have significant credit card debt that I wanted to finance but acted skeptical because of the Caller ID block and eventually got to a supervisor. After the "Visa and Mastercard" and "250 different banks" responses, he told me that he worked for American General Finance.

Here's the rub, though. If they'd have called me, it would obviously be illegal. And whoever did call me was violating the Do Not Call rules. But by the time I got through to American General Finance, I had (by pressing '1') expressed an interest in doing business with them and they were kind enough to hang up on me when I made it clear that that was not the case. They won't tell me who they're contracting with making the illegal calls and frankly, I don't know how to find out.

Very frustrating.

Sorry but the DNC list is bullshit

[the_macman]

My gf worked for a telemarketer for 1 week before she quit out of frustration. They used a computer system that had thousands of scripted responses for any reason imaginable a person would use to reject an offer. The phone numbers were automatically dialed by the computer and when a number popped up that was on the DNC list you got a warning message on your screen. Of course everyone was told to ignore the message and make the call anyways. We later reported them to the police.

Tele marketers can choose to ignore the DNC list.

Re:Sorry but the DNC list is bullshit

[Madball]

My gf worked for a telemarketer for 1 week before she quit out of frustration. They used a computer system that had thousands of scripted responses for any reason imaginable a person would use to reject an offer. The phone numbers were automatically dialed by the computer and when a number popped up that was on the DNC list you got a warning message on your screen. Of course everyone was told to ignore the message and make the call anyways. We later reported them to the police. Tele marketers can choose to ignore the DNC list.

And I can choose to ignore stop signs, drug laws, et cetera. It doesn't make the law/list BS (which it may or may not be). The question is how effective is the policing of it--there are no cops waiting by your phone, so the onus is on you to report any violations.

Re:Don't get me wrong...

[bucky0]

You have the right to say what you want. You don't have the guarantee of an audience.

Re:Pay for access to the list?

[MrMunkey]

I wouldn't think so. Like I said in another post, I used to work for a company that did outbound campaigns. I had to keep the list up-to-date and also purge the dialing lists of those numbers on the National DNC List. I don't remember the exact number of the fine, but it was pretty large and on a per call basis. Based on this article the per-call fine is $10,000. You'd better be making a HUGE margin on each sale to make up those costs.

Re:Just a 70% approval rating?

[geekoid]

Maybe they just think it needs to be better.

Simple solution to telemarketers

[vorlich]

Put the television up rather loud, let them talk all the way through their script, agree that all the offers are very tempting (ahu, ahu) and then when you get an opportunity to ask a question, just say: "Do you think I will be able to get social security to pay for that?" ....buuuuurrr!

Re:Simple solution to telemarketers

[nickruiz]

I personally find that bawling like a Wookie seems to break up telemarketers' momentum.

Re:Telemarketers access the DNC registry??

[holmedog]

I work for a data warehousing company. Any accounts that we have that still use direct telemarketing campaigns are required to buy the list. It's not that expensive, and it is very nice, honestly. These people took the time to say they won't be buying things from telemarketers, so we know we don't want to market towards these people.

Shameful

[BCW2]

Congress should be ashamed that this is most highly thought of and effective law passed in the last 30 years!

Get a decent VoIP phone service, and a new number

[slash.duncan]

I recently switched to VoIP here, and deliberately did /not/ transfer my old phone number. The VoIP provider has an (optional) service that sends anon CID calls to an answerer that asks them to dial a random set of numbers to prove they are human. If they don't, they don't get thru.

Of course, as about all VoIP providers, they bundle CID (along with all sorts of other fancy stuff the former monopolists charge extra for) at no additional charge. When I upgraded to VoIP I took the opportunity to upgrade my home system as well, and got a "Speaking CallerID" setup. It's GREAT!! Where previously I had found CID almost useless and had therefore canceled it as it cost more, choosing instead to let everything go to answerer and I'd only answer it if I recognized the caller, now I get the announcement of who it is. Some still come up "Cell Phone ", but once I put them in the phone book it announces that name instead. After a few weeks, I was able to ignore anything generic as everyone I wanted to take calls from was already in its phone book and thus no longer generic.

I've had the system for about a year now, and in that time, have only gotten three apparent phone-spammer calls. Those three were using automated dialers and faked CIDs, aaaa, bbbb and jjjj or some such (BTW, it can be rather "interesting" to hear the phone's interpretation of say, initials), to bypass the random number dial intelligence test. As I also have a phone-zapper (what was originally advertised for $50 I picked up at the dollar store), set to play the "disconnected tri-tone" error on answer (I tell anyone I /want/ to call to expect it), all I did was pickup and at the tone the other end immediately hung up -- it was a bot, as I said. That was a couple months ago so it was 10 months with ZERO phone-spammers, the three in quick succession, and another couple months without. Thus, the speaking CID hasn't been nearly as useful as I expected it to be, but it has still been worth it, as I don't even have to look to know who's calling, now.

Since VoIP is actually competitive, prices only run about $20/mo (e911 and regulatory fees included, a bit more than that, $25-30, if paid month to month, a bit less, $15-20, if prepaid a year at a time, again including all the "extra" fees) including full US long distance coverage and all the other stuff the former monopolists want to charge an arm and a leg for, caller-id, three-way-calling, call-waiting, voice mail, etc. In fact, due to the competition, most providers add either even fancier features -- scheduled do-not-disturb, automated-wakeup-calls, the random-number-human-test thing I mentioned for no-CID calls above -- or limited international calling, sometimes including not only Canada but much of Western Europe in the same unlimited calling $20-ish/mo fee.

Sure I have the occasional echo or dropout, but unlike the former monopolists or the cableco's phone offering, these guys actually know how to treat a customer, and because one can now shop nationwide or even worldwide for providers, they don't forget it either, or their customers today simply end up someone else's customers tomorrow! There's no way I'd go back!

(FWIW, unlike Internet, I consider phone service including 911 service a luxury, and I keep e911 service altho it's not quite as direct now, so dropping the wired provider wasn't a problem. I've never had a cellphone as I've simply never been able to cost-justify the additional cost given my usage. Some may prefer keeping minimal measured-call service or the like, if they are uncomfortable losing the security of conventional 911 service.)

I'm not going to say who my provider is as this isn't about selling them. There's several providers out there with similar offerings. Just do your research. FWIW, I started with the commercial VoIP provider listing at Wikipedia tho I ended up with someone not listed there. If you REALLY want to know who it is, post a request and I'll say, but you really SHOULD do at least some o