New ways to block those telemarketers!

October 2, 2000

The dinner's steaming, and so are you. You've just raised your fork when the phone rings. It's a telemarketer. Two new ways to handle this:

Kenneth Jursinski (pictured below), a Florida-based lawyer, has invented the "Phone Butler," a $29.95 gizmo you buy at www.phonebutler.com and plug into any phone jack. Push the star key to activate this British-accented message: "Pardon me, this is the Phone Butler, and I have been directed to inform you that this household must respectfully decline your inquiry. Kindly place this number on your do-not-call list. Good day."

For an annual fee of $18.95, an Internet company, www.privateharbor.com, promises to tell 1,500 telemarketing firms you wish to be taken off their lists. Federal law requires telemarketers to maintain and respect these "do-not- call" lists.