When a telemarketer calls to solicit a customer, they are required by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to tell you on whose behalf they are calling, and they must release a telephone and address for the company they represent.

Most importantly, if a customer asks a telemarketing company not to call again, it they must honor that request. For each violation, a consumer can collect between $500 and $1,500 from the company placing the call.

But the laws that govern telemarketers currently only apply to organizations at the front end of the industry, which place the calls and sell the products.

There is an entire industry operating in the background, compiling lists of names, selling phone numbers and e-mail addresses, that goes largely unregulated.

These companies do the dirty work of the telemarketing industry--they collect personal information, and then sell it for a profit.

Educational List Sources recompiles its lists every year, and sells them for $45 per thousand names.

Telephone numbers and e-mail addresses can be added to the list for $10 extra for each category.

While some companies--Educational List Sources among them--choose to honor student requests to have their names removed from the list, a DMA spokesperson said they are under no obligation to do so.