Do Not Call lists

Hi girls!
Happy Labor Day weekend!
School has started and you know what that means.....fundraisers. Eeeeesh.
I can't stand sending my kids out there peddling junk no one wants or needs.
The Carlsbad High School Cross Country team, however, actually has a product you may be interested in this year: those "Entertainment" coupon books. They have one that costs $20 and another big, beefy one for $40.
You only have to use a couple of the coupons in the entire book to break even. If you're interested in buying one let me know and I'll hook you up with all of the moms of runners on this year's team.
>
If you enjoy being on the FTC's "Do Not Call" list as much as I do, listen to a word of advice. Make sure you, and your kids, avoid all the websites that claim to be giving away freebie iPods, flat screen TVs, or sweepstakes prizes. If not, the thing you might actually win is a renewed stream of
telemarketing calls. Some interesting language in the privacy policy of a
"free sweepstakes"
website that some have been foolish enough to join. By registering with the site, the privacy policy stated that one was agreeing that "such act constitutes an inquiry and/or application for purposes of the Amended Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 CFR §310 et seq. (the "Rule"). Notwithstanding that your telephone number may be listed on the Federal Trade Commission's Do-Not-Call List, ... (the sweepstakes company) retains the right to contact you via telemarketing in accordance with the Rule."
No, I'm not going to name the sweepstakes operation, as I don't want to give them any free publicity. In any case, similar language is in the privacy policies of a number of other freebie websites. And even when they are not so explicit about voiding the Do Not Call list, the privacy policy of many of the giveaway sites say things like "We may sell the personal information that you supply to us and we may work with other third party businesses to bring selected retail opportunities to our members via direct mail, e-mail and telemarketing."
Note that, while privacy policies don't seem to be all that binding on the vendor, the reverse unfortunately does not seem to be the case. You can give away your privacy rights by "agreeing" to a privacy policy you never read!
CENTSerely,
Sister Thrifty