This product announcement really has me excited. The do-not-call registry caused the telemarketing industry to shift their gears and develop a new strategy, the robocall. When a human being calls you, you can ask them to take you off their list and, legally, they have to comply or face stiff penalties. Their response? Robocalls. Speaking from personal experience, the vast majority of telemarketing calls I’ve received have been recordings, with no way for me to relay my do-not-call request.

Enter Nomorobo, a free service that screens your calls in real time. If it determines that the call is a robocall, it intercepts the call with a warning message heard only by the caller, and your phone doesn’t even ring.

Of course, not every robocall is evil.

Doesn’t block school closings, appointment reminders, weather advisories and other legal robocalls.

Nomorobo launches on September 30th. My hopes are high that this will work.