Nation Do Not Call Registry available September 30th… Now, only if it were actually useful…

So, more than a year after the US’s National Do Not Call Registry was put in effect, Canada finally “catches up”.

As of September 30th, 2008, Canadians can register their information with the Government’s DNC Registry, effectively blocking telemarketers from calling you… or so they would have you believe, you see there are some exceptions…

• Telemarketers have 31 days to remove you from their call lists.  You know, because they have to mail your number via China, Russia, Mars before they can manually type it into their list.  Its not like they use computers you know!  Note that since you can’t actually sign up until the 30th of September, and then they don’t actually have to start following the law from that date, and they have 31 days from when they receive the list to implement it, the Government has essentially given them a 31 day grace period…  Nice going.
• There are companies and organizations which are exempt from the list, and can call at will until you ask them otherwise… these companies are:
• Any Charity
• Newspapers looking for subscriptions
• Political Parties, their candidates
• Any company you have had a commercial relationship with in the pas 18 months (such as a carpet cleaning company, etc)
• Market Research Groups conduction research, polls or surveys (since they don’t actually sell you anything, obviously their call at 9pm or during supper isn’t a hassle).

Nice huh?  That covers about 90% of all the telemarketing calls I get.  What the fuck is the use of the Registry???  Michael Geist’s iOptOut.ca is much more useful, or at least I believe I’ve noticed a substantial decrease in the number of telemarketing calls I’ve received since signing up.

Now, even the exempt companies MUST allow you to add your name to their own internal DNC list.  They must also “identify who they are and, upon request, provide you with a fax or telephone number where you can speak to someone about the telemarketing call”.

I’ve sent out an invite to some of my friends and family to remind them to sign up for the national registry, if only to cut out some of the telemarketing calls.  Also, the more people who use the system and find it flawed (why can’t i just check off a “No Charities” option??) and complain, the better.

Share on Facebook