A Federal Trade Commission order may have already shut down two Web sites after it charged them with allegedly offering illegal do-not-call services, purportedly to get telemarketers to stop calling consumers with sales pitches.

A month before the commission's May court action, a RealtyTimes.com investigation in April this year examined the two Web sites, among several others, found them all to be questionable and misleading based on official FTC "Do-Not-Call" regulations, and interviewed the FTC about the online operations.

On May 6, in the United States District Court, Northern District of California, San Francisco, the FTC filed a complaint and temporary restraining order against Novato, CA-based Ken Chase and DBA (doing business as) Web sites National-Do-Not-Call-List.US (aka: NDNCL.US) and Free-Do-Not-Call-List.Org (aka: FDNCL.org).

By May 23, both Web sites carried only the domain name of each on an otherwise blank Web page. Chase could not be reached for comment.

The FTC complaint, filed with the five-member commission's unanimous approval, charges Chase with deceptively representing to consumers that the Web sites can arrange for consumers' telephone numbers to be placed on the commission's official Do-Not-Call Registry, a violation of federal rules.

According to federal rules, only individual consumers can place their own names on the official Do-Not-Call registry opening later this year. Generally, once on the official list, certain telemarketers are prohibited from calling you with sales pitches for five years.

The commission also said consumers who signed on with the private do-not-call Web sites provided personal identifying information, on one site they paid $10 to $18 to subscribe to do not call and other services and ultimately may be compelled not sign up for the real thing.

Along with the complaint, the FTC sought a temporary restraining order to halt the allegedly "deceptive misrepresentations," the FTC said in a press release.

"These scam artists are seizing on the public's interest in the Do-Not-Call Registry, but the law doesn't allow third party profiteers to be in the do-not-call business. In fact, come this summer, it will be up to individual consumers to register their own phone numbers, for free, on the one and only bona fide national Do-Not-Call Registry," said Howard Beales, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

What the complaint doesn't say, is what will happen to consumers' private information once in the hands of private Web sites that purport to offer any do-not-call services. Theoretically, the Web sites could resell consumer information which could wind up in the hands of telemarketers who, in turn, are not prohibited from calling numbers not on the official registry.

At the time of the filing, the FTC also released "Fraud on the Line: Avoiding 'Do Not Call' Scams" to thwart questionable do-not-call service activity that has grown in anticipation of the FTC's official Do-Not-Call registry.

The official FTC Do-Not-Call registry opens in July when anyone can register. Phasing in the official telephone registration version of the service, region-by-region, will span an eight-week period, but it also begins in July.

Once available, the official FTC registry requires only that you call from the telephone number you want to register. If you register online, the FTC will ask for limited information to verify you own the telephone number you want added to the registry. The only identifying information retained for the federal registry will be the phone number you register. You will receive a confirmation that your phone number is on the official registry.

The only other possible way to get on the federal registry is through official state Do-Not-Call registries that cooperate with the FTC's registry.

Unlike the unofficial do-no-call Web sites, the official FTC registry comes with teeth.

Telemarketers who violate the rule can be fined up to $11,000 -- for each illegal call.

The official, complete do-not-call registration information is available on the FTC's official Do-Not-Call Web site. The site also offers information about states with official registries and where consumers can file complaints.

Published: May 28, 2003

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.