FTC: 200 Million Sign Up For Do Not Call Registry

Here's an even simpler solution.....invest $10-$20 on a cheap answering machine and screen your calls.  Most telemarketers will not leave messages and will hang up (sure, they'll keep calling, but they'll get your answering machine, not you, and maybe, just maybe they'll get sick of it and stop calling.  It's worked in my home.).  People, you have the power!  Use it!  Take control and answer the phone when/if you want!  Don't wait, wish, and hope someone else is going to take care of it for you.  It's not going happen!!

P.S.: Regarding cell/mobile phones: program your family, friends, & important contact's name and phone number into your phone.  When your phone rings, the caller ID will show you who's calling.  If there's no name listed with the phone number, you don't recognize the phone number, or your phone reads "unknown caller", do not answer your phone.  Pretty simple.

It's a conspiracy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......................Hmmmmmmm........................

Many telcos offer various forms of call blocking; unfortunately, it's not free.  Some cellphones come with programs to let known-good numbers always ring through and known-bad ones never ring, but AFAIK they don't yet have any good way to plug an imported number list in.  A truly smart smartphone could force unknown callers to pass a Turing test, which would be a good way to squelch marketers while still letting real callers through, but I don't have an open smartphone to try to write it on.  (I think it wouldn't be too hard to do it with a landline modem, too...

Personally, I don't really mind getting calls from live people as long as they aren't trying to rip me off - a live person at least shows a little respect for your time, even if I completely disagree with whatever they're selling or promoting.  I hate scammers and robocallers, whatever the motivation.  IMO, the best thing to do about inappropriate marketing is WASTE THEIR TIME - stay on the line when the robot calls you and LET them transfer you to a live operative.  Chat a bit!  You've got some interesting health problems that I'll bet the marketing staff would REALLY love to hear about, right?  Maybe you're a native Esperanto speaker and only want their product if it comes in Esperanto?  Maybe you can't talk right now, but you'd LOVE to talk to them if they'll call you at (insert some other spammer's number here) - or just ask about the product, then change your mind about this whole 'purchase' thing - if scamming and robocalling loses money, simple economics will force the for-profit scammers and robocallers out of business and make the non-profit ones consider less annoying techniques.

Importing number lists has some problems - you'd need a fair bit of work to validate the numbers, and a fair bit of storage, not to mention some work to keep it up to date - but it could be done.  It might, however, lead to the same sort of polymorphic spam problem we see as a result of filters.

Actually, we've heard some stories of less reputable companies doing this. It's funny, one of those companies was started by one of our former employees. Someone at the office joked about using the DNC as a calling list, and I guess this chap took it seriously.

The DNC contains millions of working phone numbers. If a phone number is disconnected, it's removed from the DNC. Meanwhile, most companies that sell phone numbers have about a 30% disconnection rate in any amount of numbers they give you simply due to the time it takes to collect those numbers.

Imagine adding that 30% back into your calling rotation. That's a vast improvement in contact rates! Granted, hardly any of those contacts will be friendly, but it's still more calls to make, and more possible sales resulting from those on the DNC who either forget, or registered simply because it was free and sounded like a good idea.

You did hear  the the DNC tried to use their phone lists as collateral for loans, didn't you?

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/did-the-dnc-get- ... -pjm-exclusive/

Considering that the cost of the war is 3% of tax expenditures (1/4th of Defense budget which is 14% of total federal budget), you may wish to look at the other 86% of federal spending (if that not inconvenient).

<Geez...stop barfing crap heard on MSNBC and thre NYSlimes>

That assumes, wrongly, that these thugs THINK. They're NOT hired for intellectual ability.

this assigning a 'no ring' is actually a really good idea.  If your cell has capacity to store multiple phone numbers per contact, you can assign several unwanted caller #'s to a contact name like "do not answer" and once the 'no ring' feature is added, you will be able to see that they have called but you won't be bothered. - - good post 'not Michael'

Why the CAPS?

Maybe...but what I don't understand is this:   Why in the world,  would any telemarketer, business, scammer, or any person with ambitions of earning more money,   want a list of people who have expressed their desire not to be called.  Why would anyone want a list of people, who have demonstrated their dislike for unwanted phone calls,  by going through the trouble of putting and maintaining their phone numbers on a list that screams out  "DON"T CALL  ME".    Were I a telemarketer of any sorts,  if I were a scammer hoping to shake down people,  If  I wanted to buy a list of names or numbers in hopes of  increasing my chances for opportunities,   why in the world would I buy a list that would diminish those opportunities?  Wouldn't it be better for me to buy or invest somehow in a list of proven suckers?

I could be wrong,  but that is my train of thought on a list of people who are going to be hostile from the word "hello"