A new website that allows Canadians to eliminate calls from telemarketers has already received thousands of registrations, according to its founder, University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist.

The site, ioptout.ca, launched Thursday afternoon and is on pace for 10,000 registrations in its first week, he told CBCNews.ca.

Geist launched the site, which is free to use, because he was frustrated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's rules governing telemarketing. Under new rules starting in September, Canadians will be able to register with a do-not-call list that will limit the number of unwanted calls they get, and violators will face stiff fines. The rules, however, have too many exceptions, Geist said.

"The policy priority ought to be where the government started, which when the legislation was first introduced was no exceptions," he said. "If a Canadian doesn't want to receive phone calls from certain businesses or polling companies or charities, they ought to have the right to opt out of that."

Charities, political parties, polling companies, newspapers and companies that have a prior business relationship can still call people who have registered on the list. Calls from these organizations can be blocked, but must be done on an individual, case-by-case basis.

Do-not-call requests automated

The website picks up where the CRTC's rules end, he said. Canadians are able to register their contact information on the website and pick exempt organizations from a database. The website will then automatically send an opt-out e-mail request to each organization selected.

The site is operational now, although the CRTC's do-not-call list doesn't take effect until the fall. Failure by an organization to comply with a do-not-call request now is still a violation of the law and can be reported to the privacy commissioner, Geist said. When the do-not-call list takes effect, violations can be reported to the new enforcement arm that is also being set up.

The do-not-call registry will be administered by Bell Canada.

Geist's website is essentially a pre-emptive strike against those telemarketers exempt under the new rules. There are hundreds of organizations, and the appropriate contact information is often hard to get, he said.

"At the moment, it's very complicated. Everyone gets at least one kick at the can and can call at least once," he said. "It's led many people to feel like the phone never stops ringing."

The site will also run a wiki, where users can suggest new organizations to add to the database.