However, those who choose to have private numbers should be protected. I believe they already are until they divulge their number to a seller of info.

I don't believe they are, Frank.

Computer-generated call lists have guaranteed that. The telemarketters who employ such techniques may not know who they have on the other end of the line, but they do get people.

I'm reasonably sure of this because we have two land lines in this house, one listed and one not. We get solicitation calls on both. The difference is, on the listed line, the caller often knows the family name and will ask for Mr. or Ms., and sometimes even first names. On the unlisted line, they never have a name.

There are also fewer calls on the unlisted line, probably because of the automated dialing devices used. A conversation I had with the phone company because we were getting a lot of hang-ups on our listed line yielded the information that autodialers usually dial up to five numbers at a time. The first person to pick up, um, "wins"; the others get a hang-up. Most people with answering machines have the pick-up set for the third or fourth ring. I therefore wait for the sixth. If the phone stops ringing before that, it was probably a telemarketter. If the phone starts to ring within a minute of it stopping, it was probably a deliberate caller who was impatient, and I'll answer it.

I feel like I'm acting like my mother did, herding us all upstairs to my bedroom to sit in silence on the floor when a particularly pushy Avon Lady was making the rounds, but there you go.

On the listed line, I answer, "Hello?" On the unlisted one, I answer, "How did you get this number?" People who have the unlisted number because we gave it to them -- it's a very short list and includes no businesses, not even workplaces, on it -- understand.

Regards--
Mary Anne