The history of the Do-Not-Call list runs parallel to the history of telemarketing and unsolicited callers in that as long as telemarketers have existed, customers have reacted with annoyance and have desired a way to protect themselves from unsolicited callers. The difference is that telemarketers have existed for the larger part of the last century, while the Do-Not-Call list saw its first use in 1991.

People had been talking about the need to a Do-Not-Call list long before then, but it took a government protection act to actually create it. At first phone customers were only given some basic questions to ask as a way to protect themselves, one of which inquired if the company had a Do-Not-Call list, while another requested that the person be added to it. If any of these answers were "No", you could sue the telemarketing company. Of course, for those unwilling to go to court, or in the meantime before the proceedings, the calls would only continue because unsolicited callers had no real legal obligation to stop calling.

As long distance phone rates continued to get cheaper, the number of unsolicited calls began to increase, many of which came from overseas scam artists. As a result, the government reevaluated the telephone protection act in 2003 and added the national Do-Not-Call list, by which most unsolicited callers must abide. Through the combination of reverse phone lookups and caller complaints sites, it also became easier to report or take legal action against particularly badly behaved telemarketers.

Not only can you use reverse phone lookups to find out more about a telemarketer, there are websites that combine all of these great resources into one place. Caller complaints services make use of reverse phone lookups as well as caller complaints logs to ease the difficultly of finding out the information you need. Not only can you find out exactly who called, and from where, you can document your experience with unsolicited callers on caller complaints logs. With this information you can make an informed decision about whether to report or even sue an unsolicited caller.