Here in the UK they died out about 20 years ago when our Data Protection Act came in to force and stated companies could only call people who had given them prior permission. Calls still happen (either illegally from UK companies or from overseas companies to whom the UK law doesn't apply) but they're much less common.
Naw, they never died out at all. We used to get bombarded with international calls prior to blocking international calls. Now, they just spoof them from an adjacent city - we've had them purportedly from Liverpool and Bristol. Bizarre, but still happening.
