Surprise! Government fails in attempt to prohibit unwanted phone calls

It seemed a slam-dunk idea: Tired of calls at all hours from telemarketers, who are to peaceful evenings at home what fire ants are to picnics?

Put your phone number on the no-call roster and presto, problem solved.

It didn't work out that way.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10181379

It is no surprise to anyone that the government has not been successful in preventing telemarketing calls, they are not very successful at enforcing any kind of prohibition, from drugs, to sex, to selling ice cream from a truck, so why should phone calls be any different?

I would like you all to rewind your thoughts to those dark days before the no call list. Virtually everyone was getting a lot of unwanted phone calls everyday. The free market was developing a multitude of solutions, from line blockers to devices that tricked auto dialers into believing the number had been disconnected to devices that required you to type a number into a prompt before the phone would ring into a home. These free market solutions worked great, but they scared the government because they not only would prevent unwanted calls from business, but also from politicians. So the politicians got together and created a bill that made telemarketing calls illegal, while exempting themselves and their friends in the non-profits (most non-profits are just political organizations). This did drop the number of calls at first and stifled innovative solutions from the free market, now people who would have already solved the problem with a unique device or other solution are upset because the “solution” the government promised turned out to be like most government “solutions” and fails to live up to expectations while costing taxpayers more than they ever bargained for.