Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act in 1991 in response to consumer concerns about the growing number of unsolicited telephone marketing calls to their homes and the increasing use of automated and prerecorded messages. In response, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules requiring anyone making a solicitation call to your home to provide his or her name, the name of the person or entity on whose behalf the call is being made and a telephone number or address at which that person or entity can be contacted.
Working with the Federal Trade Commission, the agency developed the national Do Not Call Registry, which applies to all telemarketers and covers interstate and intrastate telemarketing calls. Commercial telemarketers are not allowed to call you if your number is on the registry, subject to certain exceptions.
