Mark the date - Canada launches Do Not Call List

On Sept 30, 2008, The government of Canada releases the National Do Not Call List.

This purpose of the list is to prevent telemarketers from contacting you to sell their wares in an unsolicited matter.

It follows a model similar to the one intruduced in the United States back in 2003.

Here are the FAQ's:

Can I register for the list now?

No, the scheduled date for launch is Sept 30, 2008 and you will not be able to have your name added to the list until this date. However, Here is a handy reminder/calendar item [dncl.ics] that you can add to remind you to add your name/number on Sept 30.

Will the list work immediatly once I've signed up?

No, once you've added your name to the list their is a 31 day grace period given to the telemarketers in which they can still contact you. If you are contacted after the 31 day grace period you can register a complaint with the 3rd party responsible for investigation. If found in violation the telemarketers will be fined for each offense committed.

Does it keep all the telemarketers away?

No, you may still recieve phone calls from charities, policatical parties, polling companies, and newspapers. As well you will still recieve calls from organizations with an "existing relationship"

What are the benefits?

If registered, after the 31 day grace period, you should no longer recieve unsolicited calls from organizations trying to sell you products. Basically a company will not just be able to look your number up in the phone book and cold call you to try and sell you a product.

If you have a home based business, or are a buisness, this may be beneficial since companies are routinely called.

For the average person? Think about how many calls you get on a daily basis from companies trying to sell you products, then think about how these people have contacted you. Are they mostly charities, are they from other companies performing 'courtesy calls' from your bank or credit card? or are the cold calls from parties you have no relationship with.

If you are getting a lot of these 'cold calls' you will likely notice a big difference. However, if most of your calls are from charities, political parties, surveys, or existing companies you do buisiness with, I doubt you will notice much change.

What are the critisms?

1) You can sign up online. Critics say that this could be abused by white "hackers" to submit all phone numbers to the list automatically.

2) May hurt the call center business. Many people I know work at call centers, if they can no longer reach the same amount of people, these business may suffer and ultimatily people may loose their jobs

3) Won't have much effect -> 90% of the people that call me fall into except categories

a) They are charties - They can still call you and are except from the law (in which case, I would suggest checking out the online donation database on dealing with charaties)

b) They are suveys - These follow under the classification of "polling" and would also be except

c) They are from an 'existing relationship'. Many of the telemarkter calls I recieve start with "As a valued [company name] customer, we would like to offer you ..." [insurance, line of credit, credit cards, etc]. Mostly this is because I belong to bank, and they sell my information to call centers to sell me their products.

In the end, I suspect that I will see little change, but I will keep you informed as I will be signing up and noting any differences.

Again: You can get a reminder to signup here -> DNCL Reminder