They have nothing to do with lists or bought information. They have a list of people that bought the book the previous year (called taps) because many of them buy the books year after year. They get your number because every area has a three digit prefix and four suffex. So if your area started with 333-0000, the call program calls 333-0001, 0002, 0003...and so on. People are so paranoid with scams and identity theft and info sales that legit companies get a bad rap. Yeah the repeat calling is annoying but if you think about it, if you watch an hour of tv, how many times do you see the same commercial trying to get you to buy their product. The only difference is its direct sale (you have to move and think) instead of suggestive sale (see a food commercial and suddenly want a taco) Relax, call the businesses, check it out. Cant be that bad of a product if the same people have bought it for years, they have one down here in Washington that supports the boy scouts (they get 51% of the profits)