If response the first day of the national do-not-call registry is any indication, consumers deeply despise telemarketing.

Friday, June 27, the day the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission opened the official national do-not-call registry online, 735,000 consumers had signed up by 5 p.m. -- sometimes logging in at the rate of 1,000 a second.

Federal officials expect some 60 million people to eventually sign up to get telemarketers out of their lives.

Telephone registration also opened on the same date for consumers in states west of the Mississippi River, including Minnesota and Louisiana. Telephone registration will be available nationwide by July 7. To register by phone, consumers may call 1(888)382-1222. For TTY/TTD (Teletype or Telecommunications Device for the Deaf) call 1(866) 290-4236.

Many consumers, especially computer users who frequent the Web and use email, were likely deeply longing for a similar national do-not-spam service. It should do so well.

The national do-not-call registry comes just in time to ward off telemarketers' year-end seasonal offensive on your home phone. Those who sign up now should begin to see telemarketing calls begin to stall in October -- and for five years hence. In October, telemarketers must begin purchasing the list and not calling those on it. Telemarketers must be in full compliance by January 29, 2004. Violators can be fined up to $11,000 for each illegal call.

Telemarketers, who generate nearly $300 billion in consumer sales a year, are "cold calling" salespeople who telephone their pitches -- too often with a disturbing ring right at dinner time when they know you are home.

Late last year, grifters began a do-not-call registry verification scam designed to illegally obtain private information.

Also, an FTC court order filing this year sought to shut down some 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. The federal action came after RealtyTimes.com investigated the Web sites.

The FCC warns consumers that both federal and state do-not-call registration is initiated by the consumer, not by any company or government agency.

Do-Not-Call details

Details of the new do-not-call law are being funneled through the FTC's "Do Not Call" Web site. Letting you make the call about telemarketers, the new law says, in part:

Published: July 3, 2003

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

A journalist for 35-years, Broderick Perkins parlayed an old-school daily newspaper career into a digital news service offering editorial content and consulting services. Perkins' San Jose, CA-based DeadlineNews Group includes the flagship news site, DeadlineNews.Com, offering real estate, personal finance and consumer journalism, and a backshop, the Deadline Newsroom.