Do Not Call Registry Set to Become Permanent 183
coondoggie passed us a NetworkWorld article about an initiative by the Senate to transform the Do Not Call list into a permanent institution. Originally individuals on the list were to have their place on the list revoked; up to a third of the people who signed up might have fallen off the list by the Autumn without renewing legislation. A move by the Senate this past Wednesday will permanently prevent salesmen from calling those who have registered for the list. "Aside from what telemarketing junk the bill does prevent, experts note what may also be a big deal is a provision that is NOT in this bill and that is protection for those other annoying time wasters: political robo calls."
Finally.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Finally.... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Finally.... (Score:5, Informative)
I worked at one of these places for a week (I had to leave before I killed myself), and actually, they get your name from public records and donor lists. If you've donated to a political campaign online, signed a petition, joined an e-mail list, even visited a political website with the right cookies (the first sophisticated tracking cookies were - according to R.N. Howard in New Media Campaigns - used by the RNC website in the 90s) in the past 9 years, your contact info is automatically added to that party's, candidate's, organization's (the RCCC, DCCC, moveon.org) list of people to harass on the phone.
If you tell them no, if you tell them anything *other* than to specifically "Remove me from your list," ("don't call again" doesn't work) they can legally call back in 90 days (6 mos. if you donate, and then they ask for 2x what you gave before as the start). Worse: you have to be the individual they're calling. If it's a spouse, the autodialer will call back the next day. The organization you donate to is paying these companies by the call, and the company also gets a percentage (right off the top) of your donation. Someone donates $50, the organization ends up with about $35 after all is said and done.
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Re:Finally.... (Score:5, Informative)
You misread the summary. The previous version of the legislation authorizing the DNC registry provided an exemption for non-profits, political calls, and surveys. The new one does not, so in effect, by not providing that exemption in this version, they did add those calls to the list of banned solicitation.
My feet are suddenly very cold. I think hell just became endothermic and is well on its way to a state transition.
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Family Feud host:"and the survey says [ding ding ding] 100% said yes!"
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No, I don't happen to believe that they apply to people using my own equipment and my own paid service to harass me either, but those arguments can and will be made.
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I did not realize that the First Amendment required me to listen to speech that I did not want to hear, even political speech. Hm. Maybe I should go read it again. The government in this case is acting at the behest of the individual that the caller wishes to reach. As was probably said before - "you may have the right to speak, but you do not have the right to make me listen..
Re:Finally.... but not enough (Score:3, Insightful)
Might not be constitutional (Score:2)
Then again, this Court seems to like to ban political speech [wikipedia.org], despite the fact that the first amendment that was added to the Constitution was put their chiefly to protect political speech!
Remember people, the First Amendment is their to protect all speech, not just speech you agree with.
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As far as I understand, an individual must make a positive effort to block these calls by signing up for the "Do Not Call" list.
I did not realize that the First Amendment required me to listen to speech that I did not want to hear, even political speech. Hm. Maybe I should go read it again. The government in this case is acting at the behest of the individual that the caller wishes to reach. As was probably said before - "you m
How about a do not mail list? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:How about a do not mail list? (Score:5, Funny)
Or not answer it all... I realized long ago just because some contraption starts making noise, nothing is forcing me to address it. Same with the front door and annoying friends, just because they can make some noise by hitting their meat clubs against some wood, doesn't mean I'm forced to get out of my E-Z chair...
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Exactly. We have trained all of our family, friends, etc., to start talking when the answering machine engages.
We do not answer the phone at all before this unless we're expecting a call at a specific time. We may pick up the phone if we want to talk at that time; otherwise we'll call 'em back.
When we lived in a newly-built house, we were always getting the little entrepreneurs (selling gas logs, house numbers painted on the curb, front yard gas lamps, etc.) banging on the doo
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For the first time in my life I actually understand what answering machines are really for.
In my country, practically no-one uses them, and if anybody has one, most people just hang up when it answers the call anyway.
On the other hand, spam calls aren't nearly as prevalent here...
A better solution... (Score:5, Insightful)
I answer the phone and tell them "yes, just hold on a second". Then I leave the phone on the table, wondering how long will it take them to hang up this time.
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Therefore, when I answer the phone, I say "hello" once, and only once, and wait. If I don't hear a response in a few seconds, I simply hang up because most normal people calling will eventually say "hello?" again if they don't hear anything back. If it's a friend/family member with a bad connection, they'll eventually get that point across.
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It actually listens for speech followed by silence. It's part of the anti-answering-machine detection. If it hears continuous talking, it assumes it got an answering machine and either leaves a prerecorded message or hangs up. If it hears "hello" followed by a pause, it transfers you to a person. That two second delay is just part of that detection time.
If you want to break it, say, "Hi, this is [insert your name] speaking. How may I direct your call." That should be sufficient to make it think it i
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"Hello? Yes? Yes, I *am* interested in double glazing, yes, I was just thinking about getting some... What? No, what, hang on, let me get you on the other phone, it's really noisy here..."
[click] "right... [park] 700 [hash]......"
My record is 7 minutes.
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I'd like to use Asterisk to connect the caller to a voice-equipped Turing test [wikipedia.org] applicant, whose goal would be to keep the telemarketer on the line as long as possible (without agreeing to anything, of course). In fact, I'd setup an online service where people show off their best junk-caller-time-wasting programs and compete with each other. Maybe even make it into a T.V. or radio show, sort of a cross between Robot Wars [wikipedia.org] and Monty Python's Blackmail [mzonline.com] sketch.
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Even better solution... (Score:2)
I used to do that all the time as well. But now, with the political season well underway, I think it best to break into song as soon as they ask to speak to the "registered Republican/Democrat of the house". My own suggestion would be to start singing "Springtime for Hitler" from the Producers (shown here) [google.com]. I wonder if enough slashdotters will do
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Next up I think I'll do my own mix and get a loop of children screaming over some offensively light classical.
Most entertaining.
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"Hello? Is it me you're looking for..."
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Re:How about a do not mail list? (Score:5, Funny)
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Wait... You're on slashdot and you have one of those females?
Whoa... what's that like?
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mail pref. service didn't help me (Score:4, Funny)
Just this morning I was pondering an amazing coupon for two $0.79 Taco Bell tacos for only $1.59. Or ten for $7.99!
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I think all such calls should be illegal as an invasion of privacy. Robot or human. And enforcement should be swift and severe.... set up a system where you can dial a special number and it automatically reports the last call you got as
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No. That's your crappy ass phone.
It *should* feature call management features to allow you to do stuff like:
I only want the missed call notifier to beep if:
a) its my wife or immediate family
b) the emergency number from the alarm company
c) its someone in my address book between 9 and 5
d) unless its -that guy- in which case don't ever beep. Hell don't even ring.
oth
Heck yes, my friend. (Score:2)
YES. You are so so so right about that. I am on the same soapbox. There are a ton of call-screening and other actual phone features that ought to be universal, but they don't create revenue streams, so they don't get made.
One thing I'd like is a compromise between turning my phone off at night and leaving it on. I want a mode where a caller gets a message saying, "I'm asleep or busy.
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Its a simple feature. It boggles my mind it hasn't been implemented yet. If phones were an open platform it would have been. This is an itch someone would have scratched by now and written the code for... perhaps even me.
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I mean it's pointless to even try to talk to anyone that's made up their minds already. So what you have left is people who are borderline between two candidates. One of the two annoyingly robo-calls the voter. Voter gets annoyed, votes for the other candidate...
I'd be willing to bet many more are turned away than persuaded to vote for the candidate that annoyed them.
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Some have claimed [usatoday.com] that at least some robo calls are specifically designed to discourage you from voting, either by annoying you or by giving misleading conversation.
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I went one further.
I received a call from a politician running for mayor or some jazz, an automated type. I patiently listened to this spiel, did a google lookup for his business number, called him and left HIM a message stating:
"Dear Sir, I have called to inform you that I am not voting for you, not because of your stand on certain positions, but because you have resorted to an automatic phone dialer. I will also recommend my friends, acquaintances, and co-workers do the same. Good day."
Specia
Joe Job? (Score:2)
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https://www.dmachoice.org/MPS/mps_consumer_description.php [dmachoice.org]
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I even had an issue with the PO 'canceling' my mail in my apartment because I didn't check it for a few weeks (because I knew I wasn't getting anything) and it got stuffed with those mailers so they assumed I moved out.
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--
Ron Paul for President [ronpaul2008.com]!
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I'm not joking, but I can heat my house 3-4 days of the week on junk mail. I just moved to a house in the Colorado mountains and I have a now wood stove. I get so much junk mail (probably a lot is due to me just moving in and it's lot of "welcome to the neighborhood..." stuff. But in any given week, I get enough mail in 2 days to heat my house for an entire day. It sure has reduced my heati
Does it matter? (Score:3, Informative)
Don't think so? How many prosecutions have there been under the law in the last year?
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Don't think so? How many prosecutions have there been under the law in the last year?
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Ehh (Score:3, Insightful)
Do you know they leave messags on your answering machine now?
I was sitting here, minding my own business.. phone rings, 1-800 number..no way i'm picking that up.
So my machine gets it, to my horrow i suddenly hear a text-book RADIO AD blaring through my answeing machine!
HI THIS IS GOTTSCHALKS BLQAGH BLAH BLAH in my own #($&*%& house, an ad! NO TV, NO RADIO!
I immediately threw my empty beer bottle at the blast machine, I'm getting answering service through the phone company now!
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On the other hand, if that's some guy running for mayor, that's arguably protected under the First Amendment. That's probably why political calls got left out of the bill.
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I mean, the amount of time it would take me to do anything about it (and I am on the Do Not call list) is worth more to me than the simple satisfaction of sticking it to one company.
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Why do you hate freedom?
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I hate being called by the Salvation Army at 12:30 PM on a vacation day to listen to back-to-back identical messages (I suppose one is in case your answering machine picked up) about a new drop-off center in Burnsville, MN. I gave money every year but that stops as of Tuesday afternoon because they are using it to flood me with phone spam. Fuck em.
Then, I hang up from that, mildly annoyed and the phone rings again. Figuring I can't be getting back-to-back douchebag calls, I pick i
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I wish there was something like spam filters or adblock for telephones and snail mail but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case or will be for quite a while.
So I think the only way is to take things into your own hands and come up with a clever or "home" solution. For example many support desks put you through an automated system or if you call a company an employee might have an extension. Well why not make your own little home automated telephone system that would require say a special key co
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This seems like a pretty appropriate use of robo-calls.
On the other hand, I'd *LOVE* to ban hold queues in excess of 10 minutes for customer/technical support lines in favor of callbacks, or to set penalties for companies with absolutely abysmal customer service.
I'm utterly suprised (Score:2)
The problem with an opt out list... (Score:2)
Why not simply require telcos to ask their customers whether or not they want to be on an opt in list when setting up a new account?
Isn't stopping all calls (Score:2)
Re:Isn't stopping all calls (Score:5, Interesting)
Here is an effective (though laborious) way to deal with that.
1. Register on National Do-Not-Call list.
2. Wait 3 month beginning period.
3. Get caller ID.
4. Wait for another call.
5. Be pleasant to the person, if you can order something cheap, say $10, do it.
6. Get their address and phone number as you place the order.
7. Photograph the Caller ID display as evidence.
8. Take good notes including date, time, person talked to, company name, as more evidence.
9. Copy the bill you receive for $10 as conclusive evidence of marketing intent.
10. Go to your county courthouse, lodge a small claim for $500 for a telemarketing violation.
11. Send them proper notice they are being sued.
12. Since they are often out of state, they won't show and you get default judgment.
13. If they do show, you have proof of listing, notice, call, and call purpose.
14. For bonus dollars, ($500 per item) look into whether they have, train to, practice and publish upon demand the required company calling policies.
15. Profit!!!
I've tried it, it works.
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Verizon was surprisingly helpful when I had this problem awhile back. In my case, some company's fax machine was calling my voice number multiple times per day... talk about annoying.
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Caller ID is your friend (Score:3, Interesting)
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Next step (Score:2)
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What happens when numbers are reassigned? (Score:5, Interesting)
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See http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt107.shtm [ftc.gov] for more info. Note that the fucktards at the FTC refer to people as "consumers," despite the fact that a person is probably registering on the Do Not Call list because they aren't consumers.
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Are you denying the fact that you consume? Perhaps you are a producer who has evolved beyond the point of needing to consume anything?
I, for one welcome, our new over-production overlord, WK2. May his DNA defeat my own consumer DNA in the evolutionary battle for galactic supremacy.
Perl script... (Score:2)
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But hey, 8 billion or so iterations of a simple script is nothing. Now there's just that issue of paying a few dollars per submission. d0h!
Charge it to Bill Gates.
Telemarketers for Non-Profits (Score:3, Interesting)
One obvious solution is to only allow the non-profit exemption if more than, say, 90% of the donation goes right to the actual non-profit. That'll probably shut up the telemarketers because profit would no longer cover costs.
Political Calls are No Big Deal, Junk Mail Worse (Score:5, Insightful)
Junk mail is far worse, IMO. You still have to sort through it to make sure you're not throwing anything important out. It usually just ends up turning my house into a mess because I don't have the time to deal with it all. At the very least, they could put those newspaper adverts in a bag or something. It's too easy to get that crap mixed in with real mail. I don't want anything that doesn't have my name on it (resident mailings), nor do I want credit card offers that can fuck me up if I don't dispose of them properly. I wish I could direct a private company to deliver my mail that won't having a problem stripping this stuff out for me.
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The new telemarketers (Score:3, Insightful)
I just wish... (Score:2)
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Tell me something I don't know.
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There's definitely a federal regulation that applies here:
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Looking at this [akamaitech.net], it says...
And looking for 64.1200(
UK perspective (Score:2)
How Not to Get Called (Score:2)
Remember the Junk Fax Bill (Score:2)
The people who send junk faxes behaved for awhile, but now ignore the law.
It's been my experience that the phone solicitors are starting to ignore the donotcall registry too.
Many are also not blocking caller-id now, since many phone companies allow you to automatically block unidentified callers.
The problem in both laws is lack of enforcement by the GOV, and restricted options for individuals.
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That's not a problem, that's a feature (Score:2)
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There are so many things wrong with that I don't even know where to start. Rights belong to individuals. Corporations are not individuals as much as the people running them would like them to be. I'm not anti-corporation but I am anti-gettingproductsandservicesshooveddownmythroat. If I want something I should be able to go to a marketplace (physical or virtual) and choose which company I want
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Yes, the telemarketers have rights. In this case specifically, the right to free speech. They're free to talk about their product all they want. Nobody disputes this (well, nobody sane anyway).
But that's not what they want. What they want is to use my phone line for their speech. And when they ask that, the question of their free-speech rights doesn't even come into it because they aren't asking for free speech. They're asking for the right to appropriate someone else's property without authorization or pe