Read the contract you signed to have the phone service turned on that you do not own. YOU pay for access to THEIR lines. Thirty years ago it was illegal to even own your own equipment and had to lease it from the phone company.
YOU also pay your cable bill each month but don't have a right to a "Do Not Advertise" list if you don't like to see "Girls Gone Wild" informercials at 2 am. Sure, you can just turn off the TV...so, just turn off the telephone.
Just because YOU decided you want a phone service for friends, family and emergencies doesn't take the rights of the phone company away. They own your number and can sell it to anyone they want. They usually give it away in White Pages that are even now on the internet. Give me your real name and city and I bet I can find your phone number online.
Am I violating your privacy or using my free speech rights if I decide to call and ask if you want to be my pen pal? You can block unwanted calls with a cheap device. You can get caller ID to identify when family calls. You can get a 2nd line that's unlisted and give it out to friends and family only. You can, and probably have, a cell phone that telemarketers don't call that your friends and family can use.
Do you use a dial up modem? Do you have two phone lines? If not, then do you demand the federal government force the phone companies to create a way your friends, relatives and emergency calls can get through while you are on the internet? The private sector has those solutions already.
If you think it's a privacy issue you have to recognize it's your private duty to stop the calls you don't like on your own.
What's to say putting your name on a brand new Federal database won't do more damage to your privacy than being annoyed by telemarketers.
My answering machine and caller ID do a fine job of screening calls without involving the government.
What's to say putting your name on a brand new Federal database won't do more damage to your privacy than being annoyed by telemarketers.
My answering machine and caller ID do a fine job of screening calls without involving the government.