Deliver me from evil.

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: Commentary - Telemarketing registry

Two YEARS AGO I WAS ANGRY MOST OF THE TIME when I answered my home phone. The unbelievable barrage of telemarketing calls was reaching its peak, and asking politely to have my name removed from the call list only seemed to encourage more calls.

Then relief came with the Colorado No Call law and registry system.

Almost overnight the calls ended, and peace and harmony returned to my home.

Now, the Federal Trade Commission has launched a national version of the No Call registry, so people everywhere--not just those in the 27 states with local registries--can get some relief. I didn't really need to sign up for the national list since being a part of the groundbreaking Colorado effort has virtually eliminated telemarketing at my home. But I signed up anyway for the principle of the thing.

I wanted telemarketers to know--doubly--how offensive I find their tactics.

I'm not alone, by a long shot.

The FTC, through its toll-free phone and www.donotcall.gov registries, has nearly been overwhelmed with consumers seeking to rid themselves of telemarketers. The FTC has said that it expects more than 60 million residential and cell-phone customers to sign up for relief in the first year alone. That's a ton, but I would have thought it might be much larger than that. There are 166 million residential phone numbers and 147 million cell-phone numbers that are eligible. Of course, what with the number of telemarketing calls I used to get, maybe the other 250 million people who won't register actually are telemarketers. It's possible.

The registry system works just great, as we already know here in Colorado, and the telemarketing industry knows this as well. In the wake of the successful launch of the national registry, the telemarketing industry has apparently hired a public relations agency to help it fight back. There have been news reports that the registry could cut the telemarketing industry's business in half, meaning it could lose up to $50 billion in sales. Moreover, the industry is saying that millions of people it employs will probably lose their jobs, and it has noted that many of these are "single mothers and homeless" people.

Pul-eez...