The PhoneGnome Privacy Mode feature (or Telemarketer Screening) automatically answers your phone line for calls that do not provide Caller ID information, plays the 3 tone disconnect SIT code used by phone companies to indicate a number is disconnected, followed by a "legal message" instructing the telemarketer to remove your name from all telemarketing lists.

Friends and others can press "1" to ring through. Telemarketers that violate the "legal message" can suffer harsh penalties.

Privacy Mode only applies when no caller ID is provided. Most calls won't be effected by Privacy Mode.

Privacy Mode works on all types of inbound calls, whether from the Internet or from the traditional phone system.

There are products on the market that cost as much as PhoneGnome that just perform this one task. However, PhoneGnome is smarter in that screening only kicks in for callers that don't offer Caller ID. If you don't subscribe to Caller ID service on your phone line, all calls will get screened, so don't enable Privacy Mode unless you want that. Phone companies charge $85 or more per year for similar (often less powerful) features.

A related feature is TeleMarketer Drop. If you answer a call from a telemarketer, you can deliver them to the "legal message" by performing a flash (to get a second dial tone), then *98 (blind transfer), then at the special transfer dial tone, dial **777# and hang up.

These features are included with the one-time purchase of PhoneGnome. There are no monthly fees associated with these features.