Do-Not-Call List Logs 735K Phone Numbers

Friday, June 27, 2003
(11:49 PM)
By David Ho

Associated Press Writer

"When Americans are sitting down to dinner or a parent is reading to his or her child, the last thing that they need is a call from a stranger with a sales pitch."

WASHINGTON -- AP
Striking back against telemarketers for countless interrupted meals, the public poured an avalanche of discontent into the new national do-not-call list Friday, registering more than 735,000 phone numbers on the first day.

"They're a real pain in the neck," said Helen McKenna, 75, a retired writer from San Diego. "They don't mind if they interrupt your supper. Sometimes they call when I'm asleep."

McKenna tried to register for the free government service intended to block most telemarketing calls, but she couldn't access the program's Web site at http://donotcall.gov/.

The Internet site responded slowly on the first day because of "extraordinary amounts of traffic," the Federal Trade Commission said. The FTC, which launched the registry soon after midnight, said that at noon the Web site was being visited 1,000 times every second. The agency scrambled to add more computer equipment to handle the load.

Even more consumers registered by calling the toll-free number 1-888-382-1222, which is available in states west of the Mississippi River, including Minnesota and Louisiana. To ensure the system can handle the volume of calls, the number will not operate nationwide until July 7.

Slightly more than half of the phone numbers registered by Friday afternoon were done by phone, a system that ran smoothly, the FTC said.
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2003 © The Associated Press

Dan (just another bad thing the prez is currently backing)