Federal regulations require that telemarketers keep and maintain a Do Not Call List. This is a list of phone numbers that telemarketers may not call again for ten years. By reading through Enigma's questions you get to take up their time, get your name on their list, and make them pay for a stamp.
If they really get under your skin, you may be able to file a lawsuit against telemarketers who violate one of the regulations enacted under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Although lawsuits are beyond the scope of this document, Enigma will assist you in keeping track of all of your telemarketing calls and helping you ask questions that determine whether they are in compliance with federal law.
A good source for information concerning telemarketers and telemarketing laws is the Telemarketing Section of JunkBusters.com. There you can find copies of the Federal Regulations that Enigma quotes and other tips to keep telemarketers from calling you. The list of questions in Enigma is based on their Anti-telemarketing Script.
Another excellent anti-telemarketing site is the Telemarketing Section at Consumer.net. The TCPA Page provides information about filing lawsuits against telemarketers.
A visitor to the site passed along a couple of helpful links. The Direct Marketer's Association may be helpful in dealing with US phone solicitations.
Enigma for Macintosh is based upon a Windows program called Enigma written by Geoffrey Kloess. As such, he is responsible for the original idea of anti‚telemarketing software. The Windows version is available at The Enigma Homepage as well as more information and anti-telemarketing links.