When Canada's do-not-call list was launched last September, two outcomes were easy to predict. The first was that the list would prove enormously popular with millions of phone numbers registered in a matter of months. The second was that Canadians would ultimately be left disappointed with little reduction in unwanted telemarketing calls and concerns about the ability of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications to enforce the law. Four months later, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that the do-not-call list contains roughly six million registered phone numbers and, as expected, there are a growing number of Canadians – including Industry Minister Tony Clement – who are expressing misgivings about the potential for abuse.
The problems associated with the do-not-call list fall into three categories.
