You may have read or heard reports that registration on the national Do-Not-Call list began expiring in mid-2007.
According to The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, this is not true. This database began in June 2003 and registration is good
for at least five years from the date you registered. Therefore, all registrations are good until at least mid-2008.
Additionally, the federal government is considering whether registration on the list should be permanent, meaning that as long as you don’t change your phone number, you will never need to renew your registration. Until a final decision has been made about permanent registration, the Federal Trade Commission has said it will not drop any phone number that is currently registered in the database from the list.
Many rumors have also circulated as to whether or not cell phones can be registered on the Do-Not-Call list. The excerpt below has been taken directly from The Office of the Consumers’ Counsel’s Consumers’ Corner newsletter and should clear up any misconceptions:
Warnings have been sent out to consumers stating that if they do not add their cellular telephone number to the national Do-Not-Call list, it would be sold to telemarketers or placed in a national wireless directory. These warnings are false. According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other sources, it is illegal for telemarketers to place calls to cellular phones unless a customer has an established business relationship.
Since most telemarketing calls to a cellular phone are illegal, adding a cellular phone number to the national Do-Not-Call list should be unnecessary. However, consumers may add their personal cellular phone numbers to this list as an added protection.
To add your number to the national Do-Not-Call list, visit
www.donotcall.gov
or call 1-888-382-1222.
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