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Is your junkbusters broken?

Well, it's your hide, I guess. We already know that companies are using such private information to track you right now. We know that if you get into enough marketing databases, for example, they can correlate your web browsing and tailor it to specific advertising. All those cookies lying around on various web servers are worth their weight in gold to marketers.

Once we were looking for a new tape drive, and I searched the web for good deals. A couple or three weeks later I started getting snail mail ads for a tape backup company! Coincidence? Perhaps. But it got me thinking very hard.

When you enter information into a web form, your information can be used against you. Your IP address can be logged and correlated with other cookie logs from other web sites. Your home address, even if you don't give them your e-mail address, can be correlated with the database maintained by our friendly Internet neighbour: Netsol. Think about it, all they need is an IP address that resolves back to somewhere in your domain, your real name, and that's it! Smart marketing weasels are just that: they are smart.

For this reason and many others, we have available for our customers a filtering proxy server running JunkBuster. It's not paranoia, just prudence. If you don't care whether you get spammed or have to pay to dispose of the junk mail (I sure do), that's OK with me, really. Personally, I can't stand the thought of being tracked on my browsing. It would be like having a clerk walking with you in the store and marking down everything you looked at. Ack, annoying!

Until then, I must accept the fact that I use Windows, and must therefore deal with this kind of crap.

Man, I almost cried when I read that! Don't give in and accept it, use something else! :-)

Good luck,

Have you considered using a proxy to change your user agent string so that you look to their server as if you're running Windows or MacOS?

And how does this relate to DeCSS? Ah! The proxy's just a means for bypassing a device (their JavaScript) that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work (Toronto Dominion's web page).

there's are also proxy ad blocking software. Much more flexible than fake DNS entries. Can block a regular expression, so you can say block ads*.com. If you're interested, check out http://www.junkbusters.com

Just realize that a lot of sites pay for bandwidth with advertising dollars. Not a moral thing, just a practical one. Do you wanna kill a site you visit?

Except for the financial situation mentioned earlier (@Work), I can't think of any. Technically, what's the difference between running an SSL client and running VPN client, except that under VPN, all of my traffic is bound for my office. The bandwidth usage will be the same either way.

My thought is that the VPN makes it almost impossible for them to track your network usage (ie. what you're doing online - WWW filtering/logging??), since for example, your URL destination is encrypted inside of the VPN packet, and not available until after decryption by the VPN termination.

Ahhh, here's the issue. Remember, its all about money/revenue stream (remember the @Work situation). What if @Home network is using a URL logging system, and recording your www browsing activity and selling such information to on-line marketers and marketing database companies (ie. the Database Marketing Association). If you're using a VPN, that Marketing information can't be captured. So much for that revenue stream. Check @Home's financial statements and see how much of their revenue is coming from on-line advertising and other marketing type sources. If its significant, then...

I'll have to drop a line to junkbusters and see what they have to say about these ISP's.

As for the NAT/IPMasque, I can't see why they'd object - I'm using the same bandwidth either way. Except again, its a question of revenue stream - ya get more cash if ya can charg'em for mulitple IP addresses. Personally, if my provider wants, they can make all the noise they want about NAT, etc. but I don't see how they can tell I'm using such a technology unless they do a real detailed study of my network traffic, and that'd be like "looking for a needle in a haystack".


And now, we see the problem that occurs when Marketing/Sales get involved in technology.

I'm using Netscape because no one else has roaming profiles. My bookmarks, address book, cookies (the ones I let through Junkbuster, anyway), etc. follow me from work to home to my Brother's house to vacation in the mountains of Wyoming. Great stuff - killer app, IMO.

I hope Netscape adds this to Mozilla since I haven't had the time nor the courage to code it up myself. Especially since Mozilla handles multiple IMAP/SMTP accounts much better than Netscape.

Admittedly, this isn't as convenient as having such preferences in the browser itself, but you can always use JunkBuster or Muffin. JunkBuster is great; I haven't tried Muffin, but the article mentioned it and it looks cool. Even does a couple things JunkBuster can't, like removing <BLINK> tags.

"I'd pay a micro-payment to yank banner ads from websites I frequent."

Ummmm, why would you pay to remove banner ads from webpages when you can use the Junkbuster Proxy or Guidescope (among other methods for removing banner ads) for free (in both senses)?

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"I'd pay a micro-payment to yank banner ads from websites I frequent."

Ummmm, why would you pay to remove banner ads from webpages when you can use the Junkbuster Proxy or Guidescope (among other methods for removing banner ads) for free (in both senses)?

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It's called Junkbusters and a good blockfile.

For those who are truely paranoid I recommend you use Junkbusters to prevent the ads from ever getting to your pc. It also allows you to change various user-agent information that web sites normally ask for. Best of all it's GPLed.

For those who are truely paranoid I recommend you use Junkbusters to prevent the ads from ever getting to your pc. It also allows you to change various user-agent information that web sites normally ask for. Best of all it's GPLed.

The TCPA also prohibits artificial or prerecorded voice message calls to residences made without prior express consent, unless it is an emergency call or specifically exempted by the Commission.

Also on a side note, if you tell telemarkets to "put me on your do-not-call-list" and they call again, you can make a quick $500 bucks pre each call they make to you after you tell them to stop. I heard this from NBC news, but not sure if it is %100 true. The thing I wonder about this, is how hard is it to collect the $500 bucks? Does it take 4 years of meeting in a out of state court every day, or is it some type of "quick processing" case? What proof are you required to have to be able to sue em?

You can file in your local small claims court. JunkBusters has an anti telemarketing script available. They also make an excellent http filter.

DeanT

Also on a side note, if you tell telemarkets to "put me on your do-not-call-list" and they call again, you can make a quick $500 bucks pre each call they make to you after you tell them to stop. I heard this from NBC news, but not sure if it is %100 true. The thing I wonder about this, is how hard is it to collect the $500 bucks? Does it take 4 years of meeting in a out of state court every day, or is it some type of "quick processing" case? What proof are you required to have to be able to sue em?

You can file in your local small claims court. JunkBusters has an anti telemarketing script available. They also make an excellent http filter.

DeanT

BTW, does anyone know a better archive than the one at geocrawler? The index only shows about 25 messages at a time, and the messages themselves don't have prev and next links, and in general there's way too much window dressing "noise" per unit of signal. (I wonder if there are also banner ads. At least I don't waste time downloading them.)

Try joining the MAPS Realtime Blacklist of spammers.

Report the sites listed in the headers to ORBS. If they have open mail relays, ORBS will log them in its database and send a notification to the postmaster. Mail relays which support ORBS will not relay mail coming from unsecured hosts. If the sites are clean, no harm done, ORBS will not flag them.

Finally, you can always work up a procmail script to filter out most spam. Sure, it doesn't keep spammers from using your network resources, but if everyone did it, spamming would be a lot less profitable.

Hope this helps

Dan,

Good points and it doesn't need to be done in the browser. It can be done in several different places -- the browser, web proxy, router, name server -- and others linked to from other posts in this thread, like the Microsoft Windows Registry or /etc/hosts. Any one of them works.

Discussions like this one get technical people to block Doubleclick for others -- maybe regular users don't care about privacy, and ISPs won't do anything about it, but you can bet that company sysadmins are paying attention. Confidentiality and paranoia are all in a day's work for them. And considering that many of Doubleclick's client web sites depend on traffic from people who are supposed to be working...well, it's not too long before some of them start dropping Doubleclick. Even if a relatively small number of sites block effectively, the content providers will be increasingly motivated to switch.

And that leaves Doubleclick stock in the shitter, and sysadmins looking from banner site to banner site, saying, "who's going to try it next?"

"No inter-site tracking" will become as much an accepted net business practice as "no spam." Isn't having a villain handy?

Like, if I request a URL from www.flibbertygibbit.com, can't the browser be smart enough not to request further resources from, say, ad.doubleclick.net (but be smart enough to request resources from pix.flibbertygibbit.com)?

Yes; the trouble is that many sites have offsite images load from a perfectly normal and harmless third-party server. Akamai is the best example; companies from Altavista to Apple to Andover store their graphics on Akamai's distributed servers for faster load times. If you prohibit all third-party graphics, you prevent these graphics from loading, thus breaking many pages.

Wasn't this capability in Mozilla until recently? How hard is it to put back in?

Yes, it was; see this older slashdot story for details. The good news is that Mozilla retains the capability to block off-site cookies, which doesn't totally eliminate the web bug problem but does take a huge bite out of it (along with the whole DoubleClick-privacy problem in general).

Personally I suspect that the offsite image problem could be 99% solved with a little special-casing and some creative DNS work. But I don't know that for certain.

The bottom line is that, because of this one incredibly simple feature, Mozilla is currently the most privacy-friendly off-the-shelf browser that I know of. Of course, if you are really concerned about privacy, you could try add-ons like Junkbusters or IDcide.

Jamie McCarthy

There already IS a law that telemarketers are supposed to have a "don't-call" list.
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Knock the monkey flat on his ass next time. Junkbusters.

No, I don't work for them, yes I use it, and yes, it kicks major ass. I haven't seen an ad in months.
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-jacob

You can have Junkbuster substitute the User Agent header with something that the proxy finds more to it's liking.


...phil

As I understand it, the Office participated in an ad network to market its site. If you searched Altavista for "grow pot" , a Doubleclick banner would be served for the Drug Control office Web site and, of course, you'd be cookied (unless you filter). The paranoia is that the cookie potentially represents a personally identifiable piece of information that is understandable disconcerting if you believe the government is using the cookie to surreptitiously track you personally and determine what other sites you are visiting.

But "cookie" does not automatically equal "privacy invasion". I consider it to be a disservice to the education of the Web public for Jason Catlett (Junkbusters.Com), Mark Rotenberg (EPIC, and even Richard Smith (his expose' here) to contribute to this hysteria. I think it makes for good sensationalism to further the advocacy for electronic privacy. The Whitehouse's withering before the criticism is disappointing but understandable considering that any defense would have only powered the conspiracy theory. But in terms of the threat to privacy this represents, I think it only extends the broad and irrational fear of an incredibly useful and pervasive Web technology.

If you think I'm wrong, email me or post here so I can exercise the debate. I consider myself a pragmatic privacy advocate and am willing to listen to logic.

http://www.junkbusters.com/h t/en/standards.html#supply

To see the absurdity of the current state of American privacy and P3P's part in it, imagine switching the interest concerned from privacy to copyright, a very similar right concerning the restriction of dataflows. Suppose that in response to the music industry's alarm about unauthorized distribution of songs over the Internet, a consumer group proposed a technology called the "Platform for Piracy Promises". Each consumer would configure his own "piracy policy" in his browser, stating the circumstances under which he promises to copy, modify, transmit or broadcast certain different kinds of recordings, such as poetry, country music, and heavy metal containing profane lyrics. A rich language will be developed to express information about the various uses, owners and types of content. When the consumer visits the site of a recording company to download MP3 tracks, his browser would automatically "negotiate" with the company's server to determine whether the consumer's piracy policy "matches" recording company's "preferences" for use of its property.

If the music industry is suing like mad to fight piracy, perhaps the "identity industry" (i.e. consumers) might want to do the same to fight privacy invasion!

sulli

http://www.junkbusters.com/h t/en/standards.html#supply

To see the absurdity of the current state of American privacy and P3P's part in it, imagine switching the interest concerned from privacy to copyright, a very similar right concerning the restriction of dataflows. Suppose that in response to the music industry's alarm about unauthorized distribution of songs over the Internet, a consumer group proposed a technology called the "Platform for Piracy Promises". Each consumer would configure his own "piracy policy" in his browser, stating the circumstances under which he promises to copy, modify, transmit or broadcast certain different kinds of recordings, such as poetry, country music, and heavy metal containing profane lyrics. A rich language will be developed to express information about the various uses, owners and types of content. When the consumer visits the site of a recording company to download MP3 tracks, his browser would automatically "negotiate" with the company's server to determine whether the consumer's piracy policy "matches" recording company's "preferences" for use of its property.

If the music industry is suing like mad to fight piracy, perhaps the "identity industry" (i.e. consumers) might want to do the same to fight privacy invasion!

sulli

... but the problem with open censorware lists is that the block list becomes a very valuable commodity.

This is only true if the software isn't open source. If the OSS community provided censorware that was done the Right Way (tm), then people and libraries could choose to use that instead of closed competitors. Junkbuster could probably do this with small modifications. And it could be admined the same way as I use it for cookies - I have an opt-in list, and whenever I go to a site that requires cookies, I add it in. So too, a parent or librarian could add in sites as their kids needed. We could even maintain a list online, so parents who've put time in to compiling lists could post them on the web, and other parents could have a head start.

The point is, once there is decent software for libraries and such to use, people will stop making and using broken or evil software.

I read most of the comments on this and the one that struck me the best was the one about having a "reverse firewall."

Disclaimer
I don't own any of this offending software but I'm making the assumption that it opens an Internet connection using a socket and a port.

I use JunkBuster in my Linux and Windoze boxes with excellent results. I can filter which cookies go in/out of the box, which ads or web sites to filter out, which domains to block, which ports to block, etc.

Doesn't this functionality count as the "reverse firewall"? Just a thought.

For more info go to http://www.junkbusters.com (I am not affiliated in any way with this organisation).

Cheers!

I'm not seeing this--I use WebWasher under Win32 and Junkbuster under Linux and just loaded Yahoo. Do you know of any other pages that actually refuse to load with images turned off or ads blocked? I heard of one (in Wired, I think) site that had lame short stories that it wouldn't show the user if s/he blocked the ads, but that's it.

If this brings harm to the ability of advertisers to discover new ways to coerce the masses, so be it. Nothing comes for free, and every advertisement is paid for with a bit of our minds. "But we don't have to pay attention to advertisements" you say -- if that were true then advertisements wouldn't exist. We have to pay attention to the world around us, and you can't decide not to look at something until after you've looked at it. Free speach is fine and well, but I don't have to like other people's speach, and non-law based opposition to speach is essential. Especially when it's not even individuals speaking, but corporations -- who aren't individuals and shouldn't have the same rights that individuals have.

Of course, there's always junkbuster.
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I use Junkbuster, which means ebay doesn't get any ad revenue from me in any event. So am I "stealing" cycles from ebay too? Is my conduct indefensible and really lousy?

Use JunkBuster. It's free software.

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Yes Junkbuster can block cookies on a per-site basis and can do other cool things with cookies. It's very easy to do and has an added bonus: you will see what sites start refusing you because you don't have cookies turned completly on. Read the cookies docs here: Junkbuster and cookies.

I didn't notice them; Perhaps it's because I'm using junkbuster.

No, spam does not present free speech issues. I am as ardent a free-speech advocate as anyone, but it is well established that a "No Soliciting" sign is not a violation of free speech, and that disregarding such a sign is actionable -- even by constitutionally protected groups, such as a religion.

1. Not a public forum
My e-mailbox is not a public space by virtue of connecting to the internet, any more than my driveway or front door are, by virtue of being accessible by public roads. Or even my USPS mailbox -- "[A] letterbox, once designated an 'authorized depository', does not at the same time undergo a transformation into a 'public forum' of some limited nature to which the First Amendment guarantees access to all comers." Justice Rehnquist in U.S. Postal Service v. Council of Greenburgh, 453 U.S. 114 (1981) (skip down to Greenburgh)

2. The paper 'junk mail' analogy demolished
So how does paper 'junk mail' survive? Partly though lots of expensive lobbying, and partly through a special right granted to the USPS, whereby they have quasi-ownership of my mailbox. (The US is one of the few countries to have a "Statutory Mail Box Restriction") The USPS can even prosecute my neighbors for leaving a note in my mailbox that could have been mailed (18 U.S.C. 1725) even if I, as the owner of the mailbox permit and even welcome the hand-delivery. ("Greenburgh" and other cases) However, the USPS cannot 'choose' to deny delivery of "objectionable" bulk mail, per cases like Bol ger v. Youngs Drugs Prods. (1983) (though Judge Brandeis ruled they could 'choose' to refuse to deliver certain political newspapers in Milwaukee Social Democratic Pub. Co. v. Burleson, 255 U.S. 407 (1921) So much for freedom of the press)

However, to bring this back to 'spam', I as a private recipient can ban junk mail from my mailbox, by filing a form with the USPS. This has been upheld by the Supreme Court, despite the First Amendment arguments by the Direct Marketing Assoc. The whole DMA "free speech" argument for spam is based on a premise that has long been defeated for snail mail

3. Abuse of 'Opt-out' is a crime, and should be an additional charge
Finally, even if Federal Law requires an opt-out address, any savvy user knows that much of the spam on the Internet at large contains fraudulent opt-out options. Not only would 'opting out' put you at risk for 'harvesting' (and hence more spam), but most spammers are fly-by-night operators who are long gone by the time you hit 'reply'. In fact, a recent article investigated and found that the bulk of spam reaches dead addresses even for those foolish enough to accept the offer being made.

In short, such spam is useless to everyone, the sender, the potential customer, and the millions of 'innocent victims'. Most users never learn this, because they are conditioned to ignore the opt-out, after a few 'harvesting' opt-outs flood their e-mail with even more spam. Here one abuse (harvesting) creates a hospitable environment that supports another (fake opt-out), a cycle that repeats in many ways throughout the spam 'industry'.

If your workplace puts a fake (or placebo) certificate where the elevator inspection card belongs, is that not a crime even more serious than failure to have a timely inspection (the former is willful criminal intent, the latter may be an accident)? If a con artist is caught in the act of trying to cheat a citizen, is it just 'free speech' until they actually walk off with the cash? Similarly, a 'fake opt-out' should a crime separate from 'failure to comply with spam regs'.

As of April 19, 2000 at least 18 states had passed or were working on legislation to restrict or regulate spam. There are, of course, serious jurisdictional issues.

_____________

• The newer server is pretty fast for more or less. The old one it just moved from (was it still that old alpha?) was fast enough.
• If memory serves me right, when slashdot.org first started, it was it's own machine, but not the alpha yet - this was fast enough as this was right before the bandwith bottleneck hadn't yet occurred, as there wasn't hundreds of thousands of hits/day as just quite yet.
• Fish 'n' Chips was mightily fast as there was an article or two about every day (primarily window manager and linux release anouncements) - boy I remember one time there hadn't been an article posted in three days and I started to think maybe he had discontinued it. Then again, I just installed junkbuster again, so typically everything is faster all around.

It's a power shift, no question. Though in the past it has been possible to block banner ads (Junkbusters has had a proxy server that blocks banner ads for years now) it has been enough of a pain that 99+% of people just aren't going to do it.

Add a menu option on the browser to do the same thing, and you've just made the blocking of banner ads much, MUCH easier for the end user, and lots of people will take advantage of it. I don't think anyone's going to argue against that.

The status quo has created a convenient space for marketers to lurk; they can position ads in such a way that you really have to have them visible in order to see the content you really want. What's key here is the (If you'll pardon the choir preaching on Slashdot...) practical lack of freedom of choice in the viewing of those ads. American society is so infested with advertising and marketing at the moment that the individual who doesn't want to see the pervasive marketing is having his or her freedoms whittled away day by day. It's gotten to the point where people used to the "freebies" provided by advertising question the very morality of providing a way to bypass ads.

It is not immoral to refuse to look at content you don't want to see.

Advertising is lauded as a way to make things free, but from a purely economic view, advertising as we see it today is wasteful in the extreme. Billions of dollars are spent every year to convince you that you need some new good in your life. 99.9% of the time this is pure consumerism hype; someone on the other end of the TV commercial, junk mail, or banner ad is trying to keep their economic niche alive by convincing you to budget money for their product or service that you were just as happy knowing nothing about.

The net result? You have to make more money to afford all the things you now "need". So you work harder, your productivity increases, the economy "grows" and politicians take credit for improving our lives. But is our standard of living really higher? Witness the infomercials that have to spend 15 minutes of a half hour slot trying desperately to convince you that your past advertising-driven purchases were all mistakes because this is the product you really need. There is a schizoprenia implicit to advertising that reveals its true nature.

With respect to banner ads and simple blocking, all that has happened is a power shift away from advertisers and towards end users. If end users are annoyed by ads, they can turn them off. If sites can't survive with users turning off those ads, the sites go down. There is no moral obligation to support that business model. If the cost of that business model is my freedom to choose what I look at, I say that cost is much, MUCH too high.

Is there a similar system for removing yourself from 24/7's system?

Yes:

Junkbuster
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Junkbuster is a simple little program that run on yout computer that you use a web proxy. With it you can filter out the URLs you do not want to see for exampl all those ads. Its a blessing to being able to stop all those irritating blinking gifs. http://www.junkbusters.com/

#2 visit http://www.idcide.com The greatest tool for online privacy I've seen since Luckman went away.

nope, in this case, there's federal laws on your side, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act 47 U.S.C Section 227, and $500 per instance penalties if they don't comply.

read the stuff at Junkbusters for more info!

Mickonline dun said:

I've actually worked in telemarketing The only way you ever take someone's name off (for any type of financial telemarketing) is if they are a pensioner i.e. we couldn't sell them anything. In addition, if we determined from a few houses that this was a low income area we would write that down. So if you don't want to be rung, tell them you're 80 with no money. However, since the CD's with everyones phone numbers on them are sold from company to company, only one company will ever cross you off their list.

Dear Mickonline:

I would be extremely interested to know which telemarketing firm you worked for.

I would like to know this, because if they ever call me I want to be able to nail their balls to the wall. >:)=

You see...your company engaged in two flatly illegal practices.

Firstly...if someome requests that they be placed on your "do not call" list, by law you must maintain that list for ten years. Furthermore, if they also request that you send them your "do not call" policy, you are again required by law to send that to them. (FWIW--you are required to have a "do not call" policy--it's quite illegal to operate without one.)

More info on the law and legal requirements for telemarketers here. Please note that should you violate the law and you run into someone sufficiently pissy (such as myself), such fsck-ups as NOT adding my name to your do-not-call list can be expensive (victims are entitled to sue for $500 per offense, $1500 per "willful" offense [i.e. you knew damn well what you were doing was wrong]...in most states you may sue for up to $1500 in small claims court (no lawyers required), most courts will give summary judgement in favour of the plaintiff if nobody from the telemarketing firm shows up, the court can send a summons to pay the fine Or Else, and court judgements in your favour look very nice in formal complaints to the FCC asking them to Please Shut The Mother-Fsckers Down. :)

The second illegal practice is redlining--purposely blocking out low-income or minority neighbourhoods. (Yes, if you are dealing with finances at all, redlining is illegal in the US. Same if you're dealing in real estate, insurance, etc.--a bank here in Kentucky just got smacked rather hard because it was found that it was redlining low-income minority communities in terms of house loans.) Trust me that if it is ever found out by the feds your former company does this, they might end up not being able to so much as loan a homeless person two bucks for a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20. :) Redlining is still unfortunately common, but the authorities (such as HUD, federal banking regulators, etc.) are becoming far less tolerant of it.

(As an aside--just FWIW, I'm merely writing as a Private Joe who has little tolerance for discrimination (I grew up in a low-income part of the Louisville metro area that was constantly being shat on by the city--literally being used as their dumping grounds for garbage and minimalls and the airport because they figured "the poor hicks in the south part ain't gonna bitch") and little to no tolerance for telemarketers (I literally don't accept calls from telemarketers and survey agencies unless it is from a survey agency that I have called first and who will give me stuff like free food, etc. for my time and trouble :)--even political surveys, I will deliberately give BS answers just to skew their statistics), not to mention junk mailers (I freely admit to using spamtrap names and/or addresses if I must give personal info out--both for email AND snail-mail). Unless you REALLY make it worth my time, don't bother contacting me--if I want to get a service from you, I'll contact you, thank you. :)

(Part of why I am so pissy on this is I've had to deal with Bad Telemarketers like Chemlawn, who literally refused to get off the phone even after I had told them five times that I was not interested, I wanted on their do-not-call list, and I actually WANTED weeds to grow in my yard because I was setting up a nature sanctuary (!). AND they had the audacity to call back a week later, upon which I asked to speak to their supervisor and gave them an earful. They have not called back since.)

It's rather easy to keep from getting telemarketing calls:

1) Use the magic words "Please put me on your do not call list, please remove me from any lists you may sell to other telemarketing agencies, and please mail me a copy of your do not call policy." (The last two are important, because they show you aren't fscking about and it gives the telemarketers more rope to hang themselves by. :)

2) If they get pissy or call you afterwards, ask to speak to the manager (after getting the telemarketer's name, of course). Explain the law to the manager, and ask him at each point if he is aware that:

He must maintain a do-not-call list for 10 years

He must maintain a do-not-call policy and send it on request

He must remove your name from lists sold to other telemarketing agencies on request

He must not call before 9 am local time or after 9 pm local time

If they do not do the above, they are liable under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for $500 per offense, $1500 per "willful" offense (they knew what they were doing).

Then state, clearly, the spiel in 1) above and state that you are putting them on notice that if they don't send the do-not-call policy and/or they call you at ALL in the next ten years, you will be taking them to small claims court for willful violation of the TCPA. Document all this info including time of the call, etc.

3) If they are the least bit naughty to you (i.e. they call again, fail to mail a do-not- call policy, etc.) then sue the bastards. :) Most telemarketers won't show up in court, it costs anywhere from free to around fifty dollars to file a case in small claims court, and you get anywhere from $500 to $1500 per offense--in a way, it really IS a way to "make money fast". :) Courts will handle collections, by the way--if they don't pay, they suddenly become more in trouble (read: contempt of court--in the worst case, the CEOs can be jailed till they pay up).

4) Investigate your state's telemarketing laws and see if there's even MORE stuff you can use against them. (In Kentucky, for instance, there are actual CRIMINAL penalties for violating the laws--we also have stricter time-of-day requirements (no calls before 10 am), a statewide "do-not-call" list maintained by the Attorney-General that uses "asterisked-numbers" listed in the phone book, and it is illegal to telemarket using a recording (you MUST speak to a live human within five seconds of the call, or they just broke Kentucky law).) Check with your Attorney-General's office, or look under your state's name and "consumer protection".

5) There are some phone services very useful in avoiding telemarketers (and in some cases, tracing just WHERE they got your name). Availability varies from state to state--check with your telco. Among them:

Having your phone listing under an obviously false pseudonym (Joe Dredd, Fred Flintstone, George Jetson, etc.)

Unpublished numbers--more expensive but invaluable in not only avoiding a lot of telemarketing calls but also in tracing the sellers of numbers--some telemarketers actually buy their number lists from the phone company. (It is a good idea in general to explicitly inform the phone company that you want on their do-not-call list and you want your name removed from all lists they sell to other parties.)

Various Caller ID packages such as Anonymous Call Block (in some areas it DOES block telemarketers--in Kentucky, for instance, they have to provide a number on Caller ID by law), Unknown Number Verification (dial a number before you can talk to the person), etc.

In some states, like Florida and Kentucky, there are statewide do-not-call lists. Call your telco or Attorney-General's office for more info.

6) Junkbuster's Telemarketer's Script is invaluable for documenting telemarketing calls (among other things, it lists the questions you need to ask if you want to "make money fast" from telemarketers if/when they misbehave ;). For that matter, the entire telemarketing section is invaluable IMHO. (A wee note--I'm not entirely unbiased. I've had very good results, even at my old place, with their tips--I happen to be the client they're quoting. ;) This was at a residence that'd get 4-10 telemarketing calls a DAY, mind--getting them whittled to one or two a week was a major accomplishment, one done largely through Junkbuster's tips. Oh, and BTW, their script IS GPL'd--you can tweak it to your liking (to include state laws, etc.) as long as you give 'em credit.)

7) There are actual devices, such as one sold by Public Citizen, that basically have a button one can press to automagically give the "add my number to your do not call list" spiel. (By Grud, they use machines like predictive dialers--why shouldn't you? ;) Most of these are around $30 US or so--links here (for Phone Butler) or here (for Phone Filter. There are several devices of this type around, some even being sold at stores like Service Merchandise and Sears--shop around.

8) If you've got Winblows (or Wine--I see no real reason why it couldn't work unde Wine) you might take a look at Engima, which is a nice little proggie to let you fill out the script on computer. (There is a Mac version linked from the site; I see no reason why a Linux version couldn't possibly be developed somehow.)

9) The ultimate in deterrance of telemarketers (at least if you've got ADSL or cable-modem service) is probably doing away with the landline and getting a cell phone. Telemarketing calls to cell phones are illegal in the US, and most areas give cell phones their own exchanges so that telemarketers can filter them out.

Again--these are just tactics (well, besides 7-9; I run Linux, like the pleasure of bitching out the telemarketers myself, and neither Insight@Home nor Hellsouth ADSL are much of options--I'm waiting for more competition in Louisville's ADSL market because I can get it cheaper than through Hellsouth) I've used, and quite successfully--if you start these at the moment you get a phone line, and adopt a "zero tolerance" policy towards telemarketers, you CAN eventually wipe out telemarketing calls from your lines altogether. (No, I am not making this up. On my (unpublished, Caller-ID-enabled, anon-call-blocked, statewide-do-not-call-listed, with-me-leading-the-war-on-telemarketers on the other end armed with Junkbusters script in hand should they get through THAT flotilla of "leave me alone" deterrance) I've actually succeeded in making it where I don't get telemarketing calls. It helps a lot that Kentucky does have additional laws; it also helps that the numbers are unpublished (they can't even get them through Directory Assistance--the only way they get them is if Hellsouth sells the numbers) and the three companies that have had the audacity to telemarket these numbers in the year I've had them got it made COMPLETELY plain that I do not want calls, EVER, and I entirely mean to clue-by-four them into submission should they ever forget that. ;) It IS possible to live free from Telemarketing Hell, though. (One must sometimes be a bitch, yes. Sometimes bitchiness is necessary. Most get the point with just 1), though. The later steps are for if they have proven themselves Naughty, like Chemlawn or the company mickonline apparently worked for. ;)

Mickonline dun said:

I've actually worked in telemarketing The only way you ever take someone's name off (for any type of financial telemarketing) is if they are a pensioner i.e. we couldn't sell them anything. In addition, if we determined from a few houses that this was a low income area we would write that down. So if you don't want to be rung, tell them you're 80 with no money. However, since the CD's with everyones phone numbers on them are sold from company to company, only one company will ever cross you off their list.

Dear Mickonline:

I would be extremely interested to know which telemarketing firm you worked for.

I would like to know this, because if they ever call me I want to be able to nail their balls to the wall. >:)=

You see...your company engaged in two flatly illegal practices.

Firstly...if someome requests that they be placed on your "do not call" list, by law you must maintain that list for ten years. Furthermore, if they also request that you send them your "do not call" policy, you are again required by law to send that to them. (FWIW--you are required to have a "do not call" policy--it's quite illegal to operate without one.)

More info on the law and legal requirements for telemarketers here. Please note that should you violate the law and you run into someone sufficiently pissy (such as myself), such fsck-ups as NOT adding my name to your do-not-call list can be expensive (victims are entitled to sue for $500 per offense, $1500 per "willful" offense [i.e. you knew damn well what you were doing was wrong]...in most states you may sue for up to $1500 in small claims court (no lawyers required), most courts will give summary judgement in favour of the plaintiff if nobody from the telemarketing firm shows up, the court can send a summons to pay the fine Or Else, and court judgements in your favour look very nice in formal complaints to the FCC asking them to Please Shut The Mother-Fsckers Down. :)

The second illegal practice is redlining--purposely blocking out low-income or minority neighbourhoods. (Yes, if you are dealing with finances at all, redlining is illegal in the US. Same if you're dealing in real estate, insurance, etc.--a bank here in Kentucky just got smacked rather hard because it was found that it was redlining low-income minority communities in terms of house loans.) Trust me that if it is ever found out by the feds your former company does this, they might end up not being able to so much as loan a homeless person two bucks for a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20. :) Redlining is still unfortunately common, but the authorities (such as HUD, federal banking regulators, etc.) are becoming far less tolerant of it.

(As an aside--just FWIW, I'm merely writing as a Private Joe who has little tolerance for discrimination (I grew up in a low-income part of the Louisville metro area that was constantly being shat on by the city--literally being used as their dumping grounds for garbage and minimalls and the airport because they figured "the poor hicks in the south part ain't gonna bitch") and little to no tolerance for telemarketers (I literally don't accept calls from telemarketers and survey agencies unless it is from a survey agency that I have called first and who will give me stuff like free food, etc. for my time and trouble :)--even political surveys, I will deliberately give BS answers just to skew their statistics), not to mention junk mailers (I freely admit to using spamtrap names and/or addresses if I must give personal info out--both for email AND snail-mail). Unless you REALLY make it worth my time, don't bother contacting me--if I want to get a service from you, I'll contact you, thank you. :)

(Part of why I am so pissy on this is I've had to deal with Bad Telemarketers like Chemlawn, who literally refused to get off the phone even after I had told them five times that I was not interested, I wanted on their do-not-call list, and I actually WANTED weeds to grow in my yard because I was setting up a nature sanctuary (!). AND they had the audacity to call back a week later, upon which I asked to speak to their supervisor and gave them an earful. They have not called back since.)

It's rather easy to keep from getting telemarketing calls:

1) Use the magic words "Please put me on your do not call list, please remove me from any lists you may sell to other telemarketing agencies, and please mail me a copy of your do not call policy." (The last two are important, because they show you aren't fscking about and it gives the telemarketers more rope to hang themselves by. :)

2) If they get pissy or call you afterwards, ask to speak to the manager (after getting the telemarketer's name, of course). Explain the law to the manager, and ask him at each point if he is aware that:

He must maintain a do-not-call list for 10 years

He must maintain a do-not-call policy and send it on request

He must remove your name from lists sold to other telemarketing agencies on request

He must not call before 9 am local time or after 9 pm local time

If they do not do the above, they are liable under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for $500 per offense, $1500 per "willful" offense (they knew what they were doing).

Then state, clearly, the spiel in 1) above and state that you are putting them on notice that if they don't send the do-not-call policy and/or they call you at ALL in the next ten years, you will be taking them to small claims court for willful violation of the TCPA. Document all this info including time of the call, etc.

3) If they are the least bit naughty to you (i.e. they call again, fail to mail a do-not- call policy, etc.) then sue the bastards. :) Most telemarketers won't show up in court, it costs anywhere from free to around fifty dollars to file a case in small claims court, and you get anywhere from $500 to $1500 per offense--in a way, it really IS a way to "make money fast". :) Courts will handle collections, by the way--if they don't pay, they suddenly become more in trouble (read: contempt of court--in the worst case, the CEOs can be jailed till they pay up).

4) Investigate your state's telemarketing laws and see if there's even MORE stuff you can use against them. (In Kentucky, for instance, there are actual CRIMINAL penalties for violating the laws--we also have stricter time-of-day requirements (no calls before 10 am), a statewide "do-not-call" list maintained by the Attorney-General that uses "asterisked-numbers" listed in the phone book, and it is illegal to telemarket using a recording (you MUST speak to a live human within five seconds of the call, or they just broke Kentucky law).) Check with your Attorney-General's office, or look under your state's name and "consumer protection".

5) There are some phone services very useful in avoiding telemarketers (and in some cases, tracing just WHERE they got your name). Availability varies from state to state--check with your telco. Among them:

Having your phone listing under an obviously false pseudonym (Joe Dredd, Fred Flintstone, George Jetson, etc.)

Unpublished numbers--more expensive but invaluable in not only avoiding a lot of telemarketing calls but also in tracing the sellers of numbers--some telemarketers actually buy their number lists from the phone company. (It is a good idea in general to explicitly inform the phone company that you want on their do-not-call list and you want your name removed from all lists they sell to other parties.)

Various Caller ID packages such as Anonymous Call Block (in some areas it DOES block telemarketers--in Kentucky, for instance, they have to provide a number on Caller ID by law), Unknown Number Verification (dial a number before you can talk to the person), etc.

In some states, like Florida and Kentucky, there are statewide do-not-call lists. Call your telco or Attorney-General's office for more info.

6) Junkbuster's Telemarketer's Script is invaluable for documenting telemarketing calls (among other things, it lists the questions you need to ask if you want to "make money fast" from telemarketers if/when they misbehave ;). For that matter, the entire telemarketing section is invaluable IMHO. (A wee note--I'm not entirely unbiased. I've had very good results, even at my old place, with their tips--I happen to be the client they're quoting. ;) This was at a residence that'd get 4-10 telemarketing calls a DAY, mind--getting them whittled to one or two a week was a major accomplishment, one done largely through Junkbuster's tips. Oh, and BTW, their script IS GPL'd--you can tweak it to your liking (to include state laws, etc.) as long as you give 'em credit.)

7) There are actual devices, such as one sold by Public Citizen, that basically have a button one can press to automagically give the "add my number to your do not call list" spiel. (By Grud, they use machines like predictive dialers--why shouldn't you? ;) Most of these are around $30 US or so--links here (for Phone Butler) or here (for Phone Filter. There are several devices of this type around, some even being sold at stores like Service Merchandise and Sears--shop around.

8) If you've got Winblows (or Wine--I see no real reason why it couldn't work unde Wine) you might take a look at Engima, which is a nice little proggie to let you fill out the script on computer. (There is a Mac version linked from the site; I see no reason why a Linux version couldn't possibly be developed somehow.)

9) The ultimate in deterrance of telemarketers (at least if you've got ADSL or cable-modem service) is probably doing away with the landline and getting a cell phone. Telemarketing calls to cell phones are illegal in the US, and most areas give cell phones their own exchanges so that telemarketers can filter them out.

Again--these are just tactics (well, besides 7-9; I run Linux, like the pleasure of bitching out the telemarketers myself, and neither Insight@Home nor Hellsouth ADSL are much of options--I'm waiting for more competition in Louisville's ADSL market because I can get it cheaper than through Hellsouth) I've used, and quite successfully--if you start these at the moment you get a phone line, and adopt a "zero tolerance" policy towards telemarketers, you CAN eventually wipe out telemarketing calls from your lines altogether. (No, I am not making this up. On my (unpublished, Caller-ID-enabled, anon-call-blocked, statewide-do-not-call-listed, with-me-leading-the-war-on-telemarketers on the other end armed with Junkbusters script in hand should they get through THAT flotilla of "leave me alone" deterrance) I've actually succeeded in making it where I don't get telemarketing calls. It helps a lot that Kentucky does have additional laws; it also helps that the numbers are unpublished (they can't even get them through Directory Assistance--the only way they get them is if Hellsouth sells the numbers) and the three companies that have had the audacity to telemarket these numbers in the year I've had them got it made COMPLETELY plain that I do not want calls, EVER, and I entirely mean to clue-by-four them into submission should they ever forget that. ;) It IS possible to live free from Telemarketing Hell, though. (One must sometimes be a bitch, yes. Sometimes bitchiness is necessary. Most get the point with just 1), though. The later steps are for if they have proven themselves Naughty, like Chemlawn or the company mickonline apparently worked for. ;)

Mickonline dun said:

I've actually worked in telemarketing The only way you ever take someone's name off (for any type of financial telemarketing) is if they are a pensioner i.e. we couldn't sell them anything. In addition, if we determined from a few houses that this was a low income area we would write that down. So if you don't want to be rung, tell them you're 80 with no money. However, since the CD's with everyones phone numbers on them are sold from company to company, only one company will ever cross you off their list.

Dear Mickonline:

I would be extremely interested to know which telemarketing firm you worked for.

I would like to know this, because if they ever call me I want to be able to nail their balls to the wall. >:)=

You see...your company engaged in two flatly illegal practices.

Firstly...if someome requests that they be placed on your "do not call" list, by law you must maintain that list for ten years. Furthermore, if they also request that you send them your "do not call" policy, you are again required by law to send that to them. (FWIW--you are required to have a "do not call" policy--it's quite illegal to operate without one.)

More info on the law and legal requirements for telemarketers here. Please note that should you violate the law and you run into someone sufficiently pissy (such as myself), such fsck-ups as NOT adding my name to your do-not-call list can be expensive (victims are entitled to sue for $500 per offense, $1500 per "willful" offense [i.e. you knew damn well what you were doing was wrong]...in most states you may sue for up to $1500 in small claims court (no lawyers required), most courts will give summary judgement in favour of the plaintiff if nobody from the telemarketing firm shows up, the court can send a summons to pay the fine Or Else, and court judgements in your favour look very nice in formal complaints to the FCC asking them to Please Shut The Mother-Fsckers Down. :)

The second illegal practice is redlining--purposely blocking out low-income or minority neighbourhoods. (Yes, if you are dealing with finances at all, redlining is illegal in the US. Same if you're dealing in real estate, insurance, etc.--a bank here in Kentucky just got smacked rather hard because it was found that it was redlining low-income minority communities in terms of house loans.) Trust me that if it is ever found out by the feds your former company does this, they might end up not being able to so much as loan a homeless person two bucks for a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20. :) Redlining is still unfortunately common, but the authorities (such as HUD, federal banking regulators, etc.) are becoming far less tolerant of it.

(As an aside--just FWIW, I'm merely writing as a Private Joe who has little tolerance for discrimination (I grew up in a low-income part of the Louisville metro area that was constantly being shat on by the city--literally being used as their dumping grounds for garbage and minimalls and the airport because they figured "the poor hicks in the south part ain't gonna bitch") and little to no tolerance for telemarketers (I literally don't accept calls from telemarketers and survey agencies unless it is from a survey agency that I have called first and who will give me stuff like free food, etc. for my time and trouble :)--even political surveys, I will deliberately give BS answers just to skew their statistics), not to mention junk mailers (I freely admit to using spamtrap names and/or addresses if I must give personal info out--both for email AND snail-mail). Unless you REALLY make it worth my time, don't bother contacting me--if I want to get a service from you, I'll contact you, thank you. :)

(Part of why I am so pissy on this is I've had to deal with Bad Telemarketers like Chemlawn, who literally refused to get off the phone even after I had told them five times that I was not interested, I wanted on their do-not-call list, and I actually WANTED weeds to grow in my yard because I was setting up a nature sanctuary (!). AND they had the audacity to call back a week later, upon which I asked to speak to their supervisor and gave them an earful. They have not called back since.)

It's rather easy to keep from getting telemarketing calls:

1) Use the magic words "Please put me on your do not call list, please remove me from any lists you may sell to other telemarketing agencies, and please mail me a copy of your do not call policy." (The last two are important, because they show you aren't fscking about and it gives the telemarketers more rope to hang themselves by. :)

2) If they get pissy or call you afterwards, ask to speak to the manager (after getting the telemarketer's name, of course). Explain the law to the manager, and ask him at each point if he is aware that:

He must maintain a do-not-call list for 10 years

He must maintain a do-not-call policy and send it on request

He must remove your name from lists sold to other telemarketing agencies on request

He must not call before 9 am local time or after 9 pm local time

If they do not do the above, they are liable under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for $500 per offense, $1500 per "willful" offense (they knew what they were doing).

Then state, clearly, the spiel in 1) above and state that you are putting them on notice that if they don't send the do-not-call policy and/or they call you at ALL in the next ten years, you will be taking them to small claims court for willful violation of the TCPA. Document all this info including time of the call, etc.

3) If they are the least bit naughty to you (i.e. they call again, fail to mail a do-not- call policy, etc.) then sue the bastards. :) Most telemarketers won't show up in court, it costs anywhere from free to around fifty dollars to file a case in small claims court, and you get anywhere from $500 to $1500 per offense--in a way, it really IS a way to "make money fast". :) Courts will handle collections, by the way--if they don't pay, they suddenly become more in trouble (read: contempt of court--in the worst case, the CEOs can be jailed till they pay up).

4) Investigate your state's telemarketing laws and see if there's even MORE stuff you can use against them. (In Kentucky, for instance, there are actual CRIMINAL penalties for violating the laws--we also have stricter time-of-day requirements (no calls before 10 am), a statewide "do-not-call" list maintained by the Attorney-General that uses "asterisked-numbers" listed in the phone book, and it is illegal to telemarket using a recording (you MUST speak to a live human within five seconds of the call, or they just broke Kentucky law).) Check with your Attorney-General's office, or look under your state's name and "consumer protection".

5) There are some phone services very useful in avoiding telemarketers (and in some cases, tracing just WHERE they got your name). Availability varies from state to state--check with your telco. Among them:

Having your phone listing under an obviously false pseudonym (Joe Dredd, Fred Flintstone, George Jetson, etc.)

Unpublished numbers--more expensive but invaluable in not only avoiding a lot of telemarketing calls but also in tracing the sellers of numbers--some telemarketers actually buy their number lists from the phone company. (It is a good idea in general to explicitly inform the phone company that you want on their do-not-call list and you want your name removed from all lists they sell to other parties.)

Various Caller ID packages such as Anonymous Call Block (in some areas it DOES block telemarketers--in Kentucky, for instance, they have to provide a number on Caller ID by law), Unknown Number Verification (dial a number before you can talk to the person), etc.

In some states, like Florida and Kentucky, there are statewide do-not-call lists. Call your telco or Attorney-General's office for more info.

6) Junkbuster's Telemarketer's Script is invaluable for documenting telemarketing calls (among other things, it lists the questions you need to ask if you want to "make money fast" from telemarketers if/when they misbehave ;). For that matter, the entire telemarketing section is invaluable IMHO. (A wee note--I'm not entirely unbiased. I've had very good results, even at my old place, with their tips--I happen to be the client they're quoting. ;) This was at a residence that'd get 4-10 telemarketing calls a DAY, mind--getting them whittled to one or two a week was a major accomplishment, one done largely through Junkbuster's tips. Oh, and BTW, their script IS GPL'd--you can tweak it to your liking (to include state laws, etc.) as long as you give 'em credit.)

7) There are actual devices, such as one sold by Public Citizen, that basically have a button one can press to automagically give the "add my number to your do not call list" spiel. (By Grud, they use machines like predictive dialers--why shouldn't you? ;) Most of these are around $30 US or so--links here (for Phone Butler) or here (for Phone Filter. There are several devices of this type around, some even being sold at stores like Service Merchandise and Sears--shop around.

8) If you've got Winblows (or Wine--I see no real reason why it couldn't work unde Wine) you might take a look at Engima, which is a nice little proggie to let you fill out the script on computer. (There is a Mac version linked from the site; I see no reason why a Linux version couldn't possibly be developed somehow.)

9) The ultimate in deterrance of telemarketers (at least if you've got ADSL or cable-modem service) is probably doing away with the landline and getting a cell phone. Telemarketing calls to cell phones are illegal in the US, and most areas give cell phones their own exchanges so that telemarketers can filter them out.

Again--these are just tactics (well, besides 7-9; I run Linux, like the pleasure of bitching out the telemarketers myself, and neither Insight@Home nor Hellsouth ADSL are much of options--I'm waiting for more competition in Louisville's ADSL market because I can get it cheaper than through Hellsouth) I've used, and quite successfully--if you start these at the moment you get a phone line, and adopt a "zero tolerance" policy towards telemarketers, you CAN eventually wipe out telemarketing calls from your lines altogether. (No, I am not making this up. On my (unpublished, Caller-ID-enabled, anon-call-blocked, statewide-do-not-call-listed, with-me-leading-the-war-on-telemarketers on the other end armed with Junkbusters script in hand should they get through THAT flotilla of "leave me alone" deterrance) I've actually succeeded in making it where I don't get telemarketing calls. It helps a lot that Kentucky does have additional laws; it also helps that the numbers are unpublished (they can't even get them through Directory Assistance--the only way they get them is if Hellsouth sells the numbers) and the three companies that have had the audacity to telemarket these numbers in the year I've had them got it made COMPLETELY plain that I do not want calls, EVER, and I entirely mean to clue-by-four them into submission should they ever forget that. ;) It IS possible to live free from Telemarketing Hell, though. (One must sometimes be a bitch, yes. Sometimes bitchiness is necessary. Most get the point with just 1), though. The later steps are for if they have proven themselves Naughty, like Chemlawn or the company mickonline apparently worked for. ;)

• You must explicitly tell the telemarketer to put you on a "do-not-call list". Do not use any other language, like asking not to be called again. The magic words are "do-not-call list".
• Telemarketers are prohibited from calling you before 9 AM and 10 PM local time.
• Telemarketers must identify themselves by name and telephone number.
• Prerecorded telemarketing pitches are banned outright. If you get a prerecorded call, stop right there. They're in a violation of the TCPA, and you can sue them for $500.

An excellent resource on this subject is http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/telemarketing.htm l.

The strategy that I find that works best is that as soon as I realize that it's a sales call, I politely ask who's calling, and write down the name and the telephone number of the caller. I always keep a pad of paper near the telephone. Then, I just tell the person to put me on a do-not-call list, and that's the end of story.

When I started doing that, my telemarketing calls dropped measurably. There aren't that many large telemarketing firms out there. There's quite a few, but not really that many. By using explicit straight language, and acting mature (no screaming or yelling), it sends a signal to them that you don't like getting called for anything, so even if the same telemarketing firm is used again by some other company (companies don't generally telemarket themselves, they contract the job out to a telemarketing firm), they just don't bother calling you any more.
--

A few months back, I received persistant and undesirable telemarketing calls, and decided to do a little bit of research. As it turns out, it's a violation of federal law for telemarketers to continue to call you after you've asked them not to. For each call they make after you've asked them to stop, you're entitled to $500. Certain exceptions apply, but the most obnoxious and persistant telemarketing tactics are illegal and entitle you to monetary compensation.

Many states including Massachusetts, where I live, allow you to sue telemarketers in their small claims court. In small claims court, you can represent yourself, but have the benefit of a judge who is willing and prepared to explain the law to you if you don't have a lawyer. You plead your case in plain English - and anything that the other side has to say will be explained in plain English. If the Telemarketer you're suing is from another state and opts not to appear because of the expense entailed, you win by default. If the person you're suing fails to make good on the judgement, you have a wide variety of collection methods at your disposal including court ordered asset seizure.

However, it's far more likely that the Telemarketer will opt to settle with you rather than show up or default in court. After all, if they owe you $1500 for three undesired calls and it would cost them a few thousand to fly their corporate counsel Massachusetts, obtain a lawyer here, etc., it's very much in their best interests to settle with you for $500 or even $1000.

In my case, the telemarketing firm called me first in November 1999, and then three nights in a row in December. I sent them a demand letter asking for $500 and threatening to sue in Massachusetts small claims court if they did not pay. Just before Christmas, I received a letter of appology and acknoledgement of responsibility and a check for $500. I sent them a thank you letter in which I thanked them for their appology and the $500 payment for the earliest December offense. I hinted that I would attempt to collect the remaining $1000 of their liability if they ever called again.

On March 4th and 5th, I received two more calls from the telemarketing firm, and sent another demand letter this time asking for $1000. On the way to my car on March 24, I found a UPS next day air envelope on my porch, and inside was another appology letter and a check for $1000.

So do yourself a favor. Whenever a telemarketer calls you, find out who you're talking to. Ask them never to call you again, and record their name and the time of call in a log. When they call again, give them another reminder. On the third call, threaten to sue if they don't agree to a favorable settlement.

I think $500 would have been more therapeutic :)
see junkbusters

Junkbusters has already been mentioned, but I wanted to add my two cents. Before I started using its techniques, I literally got 30-40 telemarketing calls PER DAY. Now, I typically get no more than two per week. Those I do get don't last more than five seconds. This has taken me three months to get to this point and has been more effective than ANYTHING else I've tried.

You can say "Scream into the phone, hold them on the line so it costs them money, etc." but my time is valuable too and the callers are just $5/hour bozos who are just trying to earn a living. They don't deserve to have their eardrums shattered.

The instant I realize it's a sales call (usually when they ask for "Mr. so-and-so"), I ask if they are a telemarketer. DON'T wait for them to stop talking, because they won't. When they answer "yes", just say "put me on your do not call list" and then HANG UP. Easy. Five seconds. You're back to your dinner before it gets cold and you don't get called back.

Folks, there aren't that many telemarketing companies out there. It's not hard to get them to stop calling.

Hate to break it to you, but those laws have been in place since the mid 1990s and they already are enforced. An excellent resource for information on them is at Junkbusters. They even have a script provided for you, the end user to follow to ensure they are following the law, and the steps to take if they are not.

Hope this helps clear the air.

-Jason

Also, you should know that the telemarketing bozos work on an OPT OUT system. You need to tell every company with whom you do business, and every company with whom you ever share PII (Personally Identifying Information) that you do not want your PII sold or rented.

Also, my wife (yes, some geeks do get married!) is big into personal privacy and life simplification, and we wrote to the DMA and about 15 other places. Now we literally NEVER get calls. I mean, maybe one per MONTH, and I LOVE it. Except that I'm missing out on suing the telemarketers now, like my friend above! :(

Telemarketing & SPAM - Just Say No. I did, and it works!

--