Do Not Call list about to expire

Restrictions that keep telemarketers from pestering you at home could end as early as next summer -- unless you register your phone number again.
By Liz Pulliam Weston
Humorist Dave Barry got it absolutely right when he called the federal Do Not Call list "the most popular federal concept since the Elvis stamp."
There's no red-state, blue-state divide on the list, which prohibits telemarketers from bothering folks who have registered their phone numbers. Republican or Democrat, Libertarian or Green Party member, everybody detests telemarketers -- except, of course, telemarketers themselves, who were just about the only voices in opposition to the list's creation.
The numbers speak for themselves:
10 million phone numbers were registered within four days of the list's opening on June 27, 2003.
30 million numbers were signed up within 40 days.
63 million were registered in the list's first year.
Currently, 149 million phone numbers are on the federal Do Not Call list.
Imperfect but better than the calls The feds can't claim total success. There are still telemarketers out there skirting, bending and outright ignoring the law.
The Federal Trade Commission has brought more than two dozen enforcement actions against companies large and small. The Federal Communications Commission has issued dozens of citations regarding violations and announced consent decrees with several companies, including T-Mobile and AT&T.

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