For a survey to be a true reflection of people's opinions, it must be an accurate cross section. If telephone numbers are taken out of the phone book, that right there is a distortion because many people have unlisted numbers. Further, very often a household has several people living in it but only one person is listed in the director. Some listings in the phone book are professional offices, not residences. (And some business sounding names are actually personal; "motel" is the English spelling of an Eastern European first name, for example.)
If they use a random dialer they risk violating the law if they call forbidden numbers, such as cell phones or in nursing homes. They will also end up calling businesses and waste their time.
Typo -- I meant to say "think", not "thing".
I appreciate the comments made by Mr. Burstein.
Lastly, in my opinion it was wrong that Do Not Call lists don't include non profits, surveys, and politicians. If someone doesn't want to be called, they shouldn't be called. No execeptions.
Some people say that those of us who want privacy can get it by buying special devices or filters. I find that suggestion offensive. We who want to be left alone shouldn't have to go to trouble (or have our callers be bothered with PINs) or spend our money to keep out the tele- agents.
Lastly, some tele-agents are sleazy. They set up a quick operation and break the rules, knowing that they'll be gone by the time authorities catch up with them. They know consumers have to go to a great deal of trouble to record the time/date/etc of an unwanted call and then file a complaint about it. They know how to shut down and reopen under a new corporate name somewhere and repeat the racket. It is troubling that when one of the outfits is finally caught that we see how many corporate names it has used.