The National Do Not Call List web site operated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been a big hit with consumers. Some 50,000 plus phone numbers have been registered. However, the site does contain a little known secret in the form of a web bug and a potential spy among it in the form of AT&T, one of the largest, most persistent telemarketing firms in the world.

Now the site, does not tell you that and there is no mention of AT&T anywhere on it (remember its a secret) but if you were to examine the HTML code of the site, not the way the site looks, because the image is clear and hidden from view, you would find this little piece of tracking code on the site within < >:

IMG BORDER="0" NAME="DCSIMG" WIDTH="1px" HEIGHT="1px" SRC="http://g6589dcs.nyc2.aens.net/DCS000003_6D4Q/njs.gif?dcsuri=/nojavascript"

To see the code, choose View Source in your web browsers menu and then search for something like IMG. The image is clear (white) blending into the background, and is very tiny, only 1 pixel by 1 pixel in size. This is a common tracking technique and typically hidden from the eyes of web visitors and most advertisers and advertising affiliates do it with ad banners.

If you were to trace back, Aens.net (go ahead type that in your web browser) you'll find out that it is part of the AT&T company and the url points to AT&T Managed Services. Essentially AT&T has tapped the web site with a little bug in the form of a cookie and is recording identifiable information and sending it to their g6589dcs.ny2.aens.net server. This code could have a legitimate purpose such as logging traffic, however it can also be used malitiously against you without your knowledge. First and formost, I've heard AT&T (though its government operations) is providing the service and technical support for National Do Not Call Registry. I believe they developed the back end and I believe are hosting the site. I have no proof of either though and a search of the .GOV whois database for DONOTCALL.GOV doesn't show the web site's Name Servers (which might allude to who is hosting the site). If it is a log cookie for web site tracking purposes, why does it not point back to donotcall.gov? It could have easily been implemented that way (most sites work that way), the browser would not pick it up, and I wouldn't be writing about this apparent covert hijacking of identifiable information. The code in the form of a cookie could be used to record your IP address of your computer, time and date on the site, as well as other identifying information about you. While on the site, you are also legitimately submitting your phone number as well as other information. This information could easily be tied together.

Both Netscape 7.x and Internet Explorer 6.x's privacy features kind of alerts you to this issue, but only if you have set them up to reject third party cookies. On IE, if you notice while on the site, www.donotcall.gov, IE generates a privacy report denoted by the eye icon in the lower right hand area of the browser window. If you click on the eye privacy report icon, you should see that IE blocked the cookie and is alerting you that one tried to be set. A picture of this is below to show you.

I think we need to demand a explanation from the FTC about why AT&T is "stealing" our information! There is no mention of this in the FTC's privacy policy itself. It doesn't say we share this information with AT&T. And what does At&T do with this information? One could probably use it to to determine the demographic makeup of the list members in advance of the list's publication and distribution to AT&T's competitors which might give AT&T an advantage. The FTC might not even know about it because its "hidden". I have no problem with people collecting my information, but the damn well tell me why and what they are collecting! It would be interesting if all of a sudden we all get an influx of telemarketing calls from AT&T!

There seems to be a major conflict of interest to place this "do not call" list in the care of a company that is in the business of selling their services through telemarketing (most telemarketing calls are from phone companies), and of course AT&T sells phone service to other companies who use the phone to call people.

Mind you, when all this is said and done, do I still believe in the Do Not Call registry? Absolutely. Should this potential intrusion into your privacy discourage you from signing up? No! Telemarketing calls are the scourge of the earth -- do yourself a favor and get on the list to stop most of these calls. But as consumers, I think we need an answer from both AT&T and the FTC as to why this is happening in the first place and have the code removed.

» 11:06 AM :: permalink

As a follow up to yesterday's blog and in light of the US Court of Appeals ruling from yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will begin allowing consumers to once again register for the National Do Not Call Registry. Consumers can file complaints against telemarketers beginning Saturday.

Consumers who have not already registered their phone numbers may do so beginning Thursday, October 9 at 8:00 a.m. EDT at www.donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222 (TTY 1-866-290-4236).

Telemarketers may access the registry at telemarketing.donotcall.gov beginning Friday, October 10 at 8:00 a.m. EDT. Telemarketers who disregard the registry and call consumers on the list may be fined up to $11,000 per call.

Consumers can file do not call complaints beginning Saturday, October 11 at 6 p.m. at www.donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222 (TTY 1-866-290-4236). If you put your number on the registry before August 31, you can file a complaint about any telemarketing call received after October 1, 2003. To file a do not call complaint, you must know the date of the call and either the name or the phone number of the company that called.

Consumers who put numbers on the registry after September 1, 2003, must wait approximately three months before filing a complaint.

» 7:40 PM :: permalink

A panel of three judges in the US Court of Appeals ruled today in favor of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and has granted the FTC's request to stay the order of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado enjoining enforcement of the FTC's Do-Not-Call Rule. The Federal Trade Commission can go forward with its national "do not call" registry while an appeals court considers whether the list violates telemarketers' free speech rights. The order comes nearly a week after the registry was to be implemented and enforced.

The decision by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals makes it easier for the federal government to enforce its popular anti-telemarketing program. According to FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris, "this is an important victory for American consumers. We believe the Rule fully satisfies the requirements of the U.S. Constitution, and we will now proceed to implement and enforce the Do Not Call Registry." Officials at the Federal Communications Comission (FCC) echoed the sentiments of the FTC chairman and hope to work together to enforce the national registry.

As of this post, the Do Not Call Registry is still not accepting new numbers at its web site at http://www.donotcall.gov.

» 8:30 PM :: permalink

A piece of the national do-not-call list went into effect today, but a complex legal fight has made it impossible for the government to judge its ability to stop unwanted calls from telemarketers. Officials in charge of enforcing the do-not-call list said Wednesday was an important day for American consumers.

On September 25, 2003, the U.S. District Court in Denver ruled that the National Do Not Call Registry provisions of the TSR violate the First Amendment, and prohibited the Federal Trade Commission from implementing the registry.

Pending court action, the Federal Trade Commission cannot implement the National Do Not Call Registry. Most telemarketers, however, also are subject to the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) do not call rule, which also takes effect October 1, 2003. The FCC has announced that it will enforce its rule and is accepting complaints. The Associated Press reports that the FCC said it received about 250 complaints about telemarketers by Wednesday afternoon, most of them from people registered with the do-not-call list who said they were still being called.

Today, the Direct Marketing Association, the largest telemarketing association, which said many of its members would abide by the list despite the legal uncertainty, launched its own Web site and phone number to take complaints. Adding further confusion. The DMA on Wednesday launched a national Do-Not-Call Consumer Complaint System, allowing consumers who have listed phone numbers on the list to log complaints against companies they believe have not honored their wishes not to be called.

Apparently those fighting against the national do-not-call registry don't like being called at home during dinner by telemarketer's either. According to the Hartford Courant, the home telephone numbers of 11 top executives of the Direct Marketing Association - which has waged a bitter court battle to kill a federal no-call list - are on the new registry, which would make them off-limits to those annoying sales calls. If they don't like calls, they shouldn't be fighting it but money is driving the legal action as the industry is expected to loose big time. Seems a bit hypocritical to me or at least can be seen as hedging their own bets!

Some state attorney generals from states with do-not-call lists prior to the federal list are vowing to enforce the state lists. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said his office said they will enforce the state no-call list, despite the legal challenges to the federal list. No word from Connecticut's AG Richard Blumenthal or Commissioner Fleming from the Department of Consumer Protection on whether they plan to continue to enforce Connecticut's state do not call list which went into effect on January 1, 2002.

Government officials are directing consumers who registered phone numbers to submit complaints about telemarketing calls to the FCC at its Web site (, by sending an e-mail to donotcall@fcc.gov, by mailing a letter or by calling 1-888-225-5322.

However, both telemarkers and consumers are befuddled. Hopefully, it will work itself out soon.

» 11:30 PM :: permalink