Opt-out registry

The opt-out registry lists people who asked not to be contacted anymore: by phone, text, or email. It's a legal obligation kept at the company level — distinct from public registries like Bloctel or the National DNC, which are screened before campaigns. The golden rule of keeping it: an opt-out entry never comes out, no database cleanup removes it, no file re-import loses it.

The two moments where the registry matters: at collection (every STOP received, every verbal refusal noted, must enter it immediately and automatically) and at use (every campaign, every send list, is checked against the registry before leaving). In the US, regulation requires honoring an opt-out within a reasonable time, at most 30 days — good practice, however, is immediate: the technology allows it; only laziness doesn't.