Slashdot links to this press release from the FTC that announced an accelerated roll-out of the national no-call list. Supposedly registration will open around July 1 of this year.
People are generally skeptical of the ability of legislation to curb intrusions like spam e-mail, but on the telemarketing front my friends in Missouri tell me that their no-call list has been quite effective. An $11,000 fine per call is hefty. Once the law is in action, every telemarketing call becomes a game in which I have to keep the telemarketer on the line long enough to get their identity. It will be like in the movies, trying to coax a confession out of a witness while wearing a wire tap, or trying to stretch out a call until a trace can be completed.
The paranoid posters of Slashdot, who are the geek equivalents of conspiracy hillbillies who build bomb shelters in anticipation of nuclear war, are skeptical, but after my successful dealings with the Better Business Bureau last year I'm inclined to give the FTC the benefit of the doubt here. As long as it's easy to put your number on this list, what's the harm?