National (USA) Do-Not-Call list - hoax and facts

This is from Scambusters.org e-newsletter, which I subscribe to. Thought it might be of interest - and there is a neat bit on an iPhone hoax as well.

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Phone-y Rumor Says Listings on National Do Not Call List Set
to Expire
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Recent cyberspace scuttlebutt has pushed some people toward
panic, thanks to claims that the National Do Not Call List is
about to "de-list" participants who signed up when the
program, managed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), was
first launched.

The concern is that telemarketers will again be pounding at
the gates, flooding us with unwanted sales pitches as we sit
down to dinner or await important calls. The fear is that if
only we'd known sooner, we could have re-registered in time to
avoid having our listings interrupted.

Do NOT panic. As is often the case, the rumor mill has mixed
up some of the facts.

While it's true that participants in the national program must
re-register five years from the date they signed up, the
National Do Not Call List was first launched in August 2003 --
four years ago, not five. Early participants (such as many of
our subscribers) who signed up by August 31, 2003, have a year
before they have to re-register.

What's more, the FTC is planning a 2008 publicity campaign
that will remind people to renew their Do Not Call Registry
listings in time. You won't be left to the mercy of
telemarketers without any warning.

So, what's the source of the rumors? Our guess is that some
people confused recent news stories about the Pennsylvania
State Do Not Call Registry with the federal program.

If you were one of the first Pennsylvanians to sign up for the
state program -- which WAS launched five years ago -- you must
renew your state listing by this September or it will expire.

But, anyone who merely glanced at newspaper headlines such as
this one from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette might have gotten
their signals crossed: "Original No-Call List Due to Expire."

Many people don't realize that the "original no-call list" is
the one created by Pennsylvania, not the federal government.

For more information on the National Do Not Call List, visit

http://www.scambusters.org/do-not-call-list.html

and

https://www.donotcall.gov/FAQ/FAQConsumersNew.aspx#When

To learn more about the Pennsylvania no-call list, visit

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07213/805819-28.stm


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An iPhone Scam and the First iPhone Hoax
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Just before the iPhone hit stores on June 29, we predicted a
huge number of iPhone scams, and published our predictions on
what the Top 7 iPhone scams would be. Our predictions turned
out to be very accurate. And since then, we've updated our
site to include additional scams, since we're discovering new
ones all the time.

http://www.scambusters.org/iphonescams.html

Here's an iPhone hoax and one of the latest iPhone scams:

iPhone Hoax: Man Surgically Alters Thumbs to Better Use His
iPhone

Here's the first iPhone urban legend we've found.

A 28-year-old Colorado man found it difficult to manipulate
his iPhone since his thumbs were very large. He believed he
had a choice: change to a different device or "whittle" down
his thumbs. The North Denver News describes whittling as a
surgical procedure that "involved making a small incision into
both thumbs and shaving down the bones, followed by careful
muscular alteration and modification of the fingernails."

Here's a quote from the original hoax: "From my old Treo, to
my Blackberry, to this new iPhone, I had a hard time hitting
the right buttons, and I always lost those little styluses.
Sure, the procedure was expensive, but when I think of all the
time I save by being able to use modern handhelds so much
faster, I really think the surgery will pay for itself in ten
to fifteen years. And what it's saving me in frustration --
that's priceless."

http://northdenvernews.com/content/view/922/2/

Editor's Note: The interesting thing is that many reporters
and bloggers reported this story as true... It's not. You
can read why here.

http://northdenvernews.com/content/view/925/2/