← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Happy Hacker
Thread ID: 10818 | Posts: 6 | Started: 2003-10-29
2003-10-29 15:56 | User Profile
I was on my state's no-call list for the past year and it worked very well. Daily telemarketer calls vanished and when the phone rang I could be very confident that it was a wanted call.
With the federal list in operation, the state turned over my number to the feds and apparently ceased its own operation. Now, the number of unwanted calls are increasing!
The federal no-call list has huge loopholes in it. Political, pollster, and charities can still call. It seems these people have stepped up their rate of calling, especially the charities. I guess call centers are looking for new customers. Or, maybe these groups feel that with less calls from telemarketers, phone activities are more attractive.
As businesses change their plans for the no-call list, I expect soon to be getting the same commercial calls but with a charitable pretext. "Hi, I'm calling for the National Diabetes Association. This call is sponsored by Rollox Windows, the best choice in replacement windows..."
Instead of banning calls, they should have gone with a fee. Something like a dollar each unsolicited call in mass calling campaigns, regardless of the type of organization making the calls, which goes to the person being called. The money could be transferred via the phone bill. The idea is to make the calling too expensive to do unless the calls are well targeted or carefully planned.
This way, if any sort of organization has a good reason for making the calls, they can still do it. But, the unwanted calls would be kept low. And, if you knew you were getting a buck when you were called, you might not be so annoyed by the call.
BTW, when I was a teenager I worked in an electronics repair shop. I was usually stuck calling customers when their electronic item was repaired. As I didn't have a machine to do the dialing, getting through to people took a little work (busy signals, misdialings, etc.). Every once-and-a-while someone (always a woman) would hang up on me thinking I was a telemarketer (sometimes they would ask if I'm a telemarketer and hang up even after I answered "no"). Then later they could come in and find their item was finished days or weeks ago then they would b*tch about not being called. I never tried again to contact anyone who hung up on me. I'm a little more understanding now with the customers and a little angrier with the telemarketers for damaging common phone courtesy.
On related issues of unwanted mail and email. Junk mail isn't really a problem. It takes a minute to deal with it, at time of your choosing, the cost of printing and postage keeps mailings down, and junk mail helps to keep postal rates relatively low.
The law should require that junk email be prefixed with "ADV:" and maybe a few other prefixes depending on the kind of email (e.g. charity or porn). Then you would simply have your email program trash such mail if you didn't want to be bothered by it.
2003-10-29 17:21 | User Profile
Auuggggh! I didn't even bother. The only reason the feds did that was to abolish stricter state programs. If there was ever symbol of contempt for US citizens. I find it hard to believe US Congress put up with this at home. The callers won't even remove my number when asked, they just hang up, and there's no way to tell who it was. My big problem is bill collectors who refuse to accept the fact that their target changed their phone number. I was lucky enough to get that number. :wallbash: I have collectors asking for two different people, all the time. I know the law already says they are supposed to stop calling when asked, but they don't. I've gotten to the point of almost begging them to stop. "I have no idea who the hell you are asking for. I don't know what I have to say to get these calls stopped." Very frustrating.
When we rent property, the law gives us control over that property. We pay for that control. The same concept applies with a phone line. I don't pay $30 a month to give some stranger access to my personal life. I don't want the calls, none of them.
There's no reason an unwanted caller wants to call me...other than pressuring me to pay for extra phone services to keep them out, and those pos zappers that don't work. And, I suppose the jobs in call centers.
The random dialers even dial unpublished numbers, unreal. It is nothing but a phone company extortion scam, supported and approved by the feds. Anyone who has a link to a group that lobbies against telemarketer, let me know. If not, I'm might start a site. There's no constitutional right the worry the daylights out of me with my own phone. :wallbash:
2003-10-30 05:11 | User Profile
I think is has worked great. I have seen the the number of calls go down by 3/4 or more.
Political, pollster, and charities can still call.
So. I might point out, the reason why they can still is the First Ammendment right of Free Speach. They can't ban politicans from asking for you to vote for them or help them run. It has banned call trying to sell stuff. Never give money to any charity on phone! More will call if you do!
I endless number of people calling to sell stuff has stoped for most part at my house.
This is one of the few good thing this Government has done in the last few years.
2003-10-30 06:51 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Faust]So. I might point out, the reason why they can still is the First Ammendment right of Free Speach. They can't ban politicans from asking for you to vote for them or help them run. It has banned call trying to sell stuff. Never give money to any charity on phone! More will call if you do![/QUOTE]
The no-call list has worked great for the past year. I'm just noticing an increase in calls lately.
How come if someone who wants to sell you something he has no free speech rights but someone who wants your vote has free speech rights? It sounds like you've bought the artificial liberal dichotomy of commerical vs. non-commerical. If I sell something form a building, that building is still just as much mine as if I didn't sell something from it. So, I should still keep my rights, such as choosing who I let onto my property.
Indeed, it is arbitrary and discriminatory to allow a charity or a politician to call but not a business.
This is not at all a free speech issue. It's about people using my time and property for something I don't want them using my time and property for. No one has a right to call me on my phone just like no one has a right to sit on my sofa and watch my TV.
2003-10-30 19:36 | User Profile
It seems to be working for me.
I have gotten maybe a half dozen "unknown" calls this month. (I used to get than much every day.) One of them was the same pre-recorded message from DIrectTV left on my machine that I get every couple of months. I filed the complaint using the form on the donotcall.gov site. I don't expect anything to come of it... I haven't gotten as much as an automated acknowledgement, but you never know.
2003-10-30 22:39 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Happy Hacker] This is not at all a free speech issue. It's about people using my time and property for something I don't want them using my time and property for. No one has a right to call me on my phone just like no one has a right to sit on my sofa and watch my TV.[/QUOTE] Amen to that. Amen. How in the world anyone buys the line that this is a free speech issue,that the founding fathers would defend this, is beyond me. "Hate speech" laws are OK, but having control over who calls me on my presonal phone line, isn't?