If you are a resident of North Carolina, you are protected under North Carolina law as well as federal law when you register at the federal site. For more information on the North Carolina Law, check out the site at North Carolina Department of Justice: No Calls NC.
It is relatively simple to register online. Just point your browser to http://donotcall.gov/ and click "Register Now." Enter your phone number (you can enter up to three) and your email address. Verify that they are correct and click "Register." You will be sent an email from Register@donotcall.gov. The web page said that the email should be received in a few minutes, but when I registered on the first day the servers were up, it took from Friday evening to Sunday morning before they sent the email. The FTC servers were really swamped and they were delaying sending the emails. Over 700,000 persons had already registered as of 5 PM on the first day!
When you get the email, you have 72 hours to respond. The email will look like this:
To:
Subject: National Do Not Call Registry - Complete Your Registration
Date: Sunday, June 29, 2003 6:04 AM
Click here http://donotcall.gov/DNC/Register/RegisterVerification.aspx?252-215-0212-20083275-211968-3204 to complete your request to register your phone number ((252) 215-0212) on the National Do Not Call Registry.
Important: You must respond to this email by clicking the link within 72 hours for your registration to be successful.
Once you have registered, your phone number registration will be effective for 5 years. It will be illegal for most telemarketers to call you, and you will be able to file a complaint if a telemarketer does call you. The website www.donotcall.gov provides information about filing a complaint.
Important: After you click on the link, print the web page and keep it for your records.
Please do not reply to this message as it is from an unattended mailbox. Any replies to this email will not be responded to or forwarded. This service is used for outgoing emails only and cannot respond to inquiries.
Click on the link and you get a screen like this, which indicates that the registration is complete:
If you complete your registration by the end of August, 2003, telemarketers must stop calling after the first of October. If you complete your registration later, they have three months to stop calling.
Some business are still permitted to call and pester you, including long-distance phone companies, airlines, banks, and insurance companies. Political organizations, charities, and companies with whom you have done business recently (within the last 18 months) can also still call to pester you. You can, however, tell political and charitable solicitors and firms with which you have done business, when they call, to put you on their own "do not call" list. If they call again, they can be fined up to $11,000.
If you get calls that violate the "do not call" law, you can report them online at the same site used for registration. You must, however, have either the name or the phone number of the violator and the date that they called you.
The FCC is also involved in regulating telemarketing, under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. See JunkBusters' page on this.
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Contact Information for the Webmaster,
Dr. Karl L. Wuensch
This page most recently revised on 28. October 2003.
