It’s that time of year again. What time of year, you say? Time to register your cell phone number with the federal Do Not Call Registry. If you do not, your number will be released to telemarketers on July 1, or so I was informed by an email from an acquaintance.
This is a hoax that has been going around the Internet since at least 2004. According to the this press release issued last week by the FTC:

consumers should not be concerned that their cell phone numbers will be released to telemarketers at any time in the near future. In addition, according to the agency, it is not necessary to register cell phone numbers on the DNC Registry to be protected from most telemarketing calls to cell phones.

The chart below shows the market share of visits to the Do Not Call Registry over the past 15 months. I’m guessing that the FTC is suffering from server overload, given traffic spikes of more than 100% every few months. Visits to Do Not Call Registry have doubled in the past 4 weeks (week ending 6/24/06 vs. week ending 5/27/06) as more people rush to seemingly prevent their cell phone numbers from being released to telemarketers.

According the FTC release, there is no harm in registering your cell phone number, but given the government’s record in protecting personal information, I think I’ll keep my cell phone number to myself. Ironically, when I went to the Do Not Call Registry, I got a warning that said “Website Certified by an Unknown Authority.”