Donotcall.gov has been flooded with visitors lately. As part of a congressional plan to regulate the telemarkting industry, the Web site enables citizens to effectively hang up for good on bothersome telemarketing callers, simply by signing a registry.

The National Do-Not-Call Registry has signed up over 45 million phone numbers since its launch in summer of 2003, yet there is some confusion as to whom the registry applies or whether it is even constitutional. If the list is implemented, telemarketers could be fined up to $11,000 each time they call a number on the list. Proceedings in federal courts threaten to strike down the registry, a move that would maintain the status quo for telemarketing firms.

Fearing that a do-not-call registry will cost the telemarketing industry two to four million jobs in the U.S., the Direct Marketing Association and other industry groups have challenged its constitutionality on grounds that it violates the right to free speech. A district court has ruled for now that the registry cannot be enforced, but the Federal Trade Commission is seeking to overturn that ruling.

Until then, Americans hoping to sit down to a peaceful dinner without interruption from someone hawking a free trip to Orlando or a low mortgage interest rate will have to fall back on standard tactics for thwarting unwanted calls such as caller ID or simply hanging up.