Tech tips

The Canadian Marketing Association offers a Do Not Contact Service for people, like me, who hate being contacted by marketers.

The CMA gives you the option to have your name removed from new contact lists acquired by their members. Having your name removed will stop unwanted direct marketing offers from organizations that are a member of the CMA.

You can check out their website at www.the-cma.org. Click the Do Not Contact button on the right hand side of the page and you can submit your name, address and phone number online and register for do not mail, do not call and do not fax. It is quick, simple and easy to do.

A national Do Not Call List will be established this fall and implemented by the CRTC and the CMA will phase out its telephone suppression list. The contract to operate the list was awarded to Bell Canada in December 2007.

The service should reduce the number of telemarketing calls you get, that is, if you register.

I think everyone was aware of the individual lists maintained by each telemarketing company. If they call you and you don't want to be called again and you told them so, your name was supposed to be added to their private do not call list. With this new system, you only have to register once rather than with each company.

Once implemented, according to the CRTC's website, any Canadian telephone number, land, mobile or fax can be registered. You will be able to call a 1-800 number from the phone you are registering or do it directly online. The toll free number or website addresses are not yet available.

Your registration will be good for three years. After that, you will have to register again. No one will tell you that your three years have expired, so you might want to make a note in your calendar. Registration for individuals will be free.

So, you register with the service, will you still get calls? Yes, this wouldn't be a good government initiative if it wasn't made as complicated as humanly possible.

Of course, there will be exceptions to the Do Not Call list. I bet you are thinking to yourself that you already know who will be exempt. You are right, politicians, surveys, registered charities, general circulation newspapers, or any business that has an existing relationship with you are free to continue calling.

If an organization is not on the exempted list and they call you even though you are registered, you now have the option to file a complaint, but you must do it within 14 days of the call.

Penalties range from up to $1,500 for individuals to $15,000 for corporations. You can read more about the national do not call list at www.crtc.gc.ca/Eng/INFO_SHT/t1026.htm.

One final note, exempted organizations will have to continue maintaining their own private do not call lists where you can request not to be called just like you do today.

So, here you go again, asking each organization not to call you in the future. Too bad there wasn't some way to tell all the exempt organizations to take a hike at the same time... but maybe there is.

A website is available for you to create and manage your own personal do not call list. It is not owned or operated by the CRTC, but it is a novel approach in dealing with exempted organizations. Next week, we will take a closer look at it and how it may enhance the national do not call list experience.

toddmusseau@gmail.com