Canadians Flocking to Do-Not-Call List Crash Web Site

Canadian regulators said that a consumer portal site for the country’s new Do-Not-Call List crashed Tuesday, only hours after it went online, under the weight of requests by citizens to be added to the list.

The government agency administering the Do-Not-Call list, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), said that some 200,000 citizens had added their phone numbers to the list by 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. The list went live at midnight Tuesday.

But that number represented a fraction of those trying to access the Web site. The agency told a Canadian television station that 18,000 people tried to register their numbers on the list at the exact same time at one point in the day. Phone lines to a number set up by the CRTC were also clogged.

The Do-Not-Call list in Canada closely mirrors the one instituted by the FCC in the United States. Citizens can opt out of telemarketing solicitation calls but certain other calls, such as debt collection calls, are exempt.

CRTC also noted that Canadians shouldn’t expect immediate relief from telemarketers; numbers registered on the Web site are not considered forbidden until 31 days after registration.