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Telcos Play Both Sides of Telemarketing War
Monoman writes "Most Slasdot readers already know this but CNN has an article about how the telcos are reaping profits from selling your phone number to the telemarketers, and selling customers ways to block the telemareketers, and selling telemarketers ways to get around the customers who are paying to have telemarketers blocked and... I think you get the picture. It is nice to see stuff like this in the mainstream media." So either both sides pay the local Baby Bell for its protection racket, or you just pass a law and the problem goes away.
I don't get telemarketers.
http://www.ganocall.com and you can sign up online.
siri
According to the suits, the laws that prevent the telemarketers are violating their 1st amendment right to free speech as well as unfairly restricting business.
Personally I'm glad to see the calls gone, but i do see their point too..
I expect in the end the laws will be struck down. after a long and expensive ( tax payer funded ) battle. Only one getting something out of it will be the attorneys.
Of course we all know lawyers play the same game, start up suits and make money off both sides.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
http://nocall.wisconsin.gov/
Not Effective until Jan 1
Morphing Software
Does anyone know if they work?
It just sends the first tone of the "disconnected number" FCC 3-tone code whenever you pick up a phone call. I've seen people claim you can put the tones on your answering machine before your message and it should block incoming telemarketers without the $50 cost of the telezapper (as long as you let the answering machine pick up).
No Call links to your state's page.
Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3H 3J5
A friend of mine used to work as a telemarketer. He tells me that these companies treat a hangup, even after you yell at the poor slob on the other end, as an "accidental disconnect", and put you back on the call queue.
Have to tell them to put you on the "do not call" list.
Wisconsin has a no-call law too, effective January 1 2003.
Sprint has this feature for $4.95 a month that disallows all non-Caller ID readable calls (blocked, private, anonymous, etc.) But there is a passcode that you can give out to "trusted" friends and family that allows them to bypass the restriction. But those 4 digits are defaulted to the last 4 of your phone number, so it's quite easy for telemarketers to guess (and they do).
Now, most of us here are probably careful with our information, and giving it out, but I'd say the other 99% of the population aren't. Now, I'm not saying that the telcos aren't using these underhanded tactics, but don't leave user stupidity out of the equation.
Here's a list for all states that have a web site.
Apparently, the anti-telemarketer website doesn't seem to have a problem with pop-ups though...
First, shouldn't the telcos be paying for me to be on the list, since they profit from selling my phone # in the first place?
But second, now I'm getting calls from "licensees" of the state. So now the states are playing the same game as the the telcos.
Xesdeeni
The machines dial numbers stored in a database using a mathematical algorithm to predict when a telemarketer will be ready to finish one sales call and start another. When the machine reaches a person, the call is supposed to be transferred to a telemarketer who is just finishing a previous call.
Automated dialers are illegal in many states, Washington State being one of them. A good story about this:
Link
Calls made using an automated dialing-and-announcing device for a commercial purpose -- to sell property, goods or services -- are against the law in Washington. Consumers are entitled to $500 in damages for each call.
Check your states website for information.
Another good source for your rights against telemarketers:
PrivateCitizen.org
Connecticut's "No Call List" is accessible at http://www.state.ct.us/dcp/nocall.htm.
Transcript show: self sigs atRandom.
That is not required in every state, nor in every country.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wyoming,
See Also, The Feds
Apparently my submission of this same story was too late, but I included a link to the FTC proposal to create a national registry of numbers that telemarketers CANNOT call. They have extended the public comment period, so go make yourself heard.
illum oportet crescere me autem minui
You can check it out here: No Call List
But it stinks, because the DMA "helped" them write it. People who you've done business with get a free ride, but you should of course demand off of their list -- and forbid them from selling the list to anyone else.
You have to go through a song and dance to invoke the protection of the law, and of course the underpaid person on the line won't know what you're talking about (please don't yell at them unless they're rude; it's the company's fault and they just need a job). Here's a script that purports to hit all the points.
The DMA also offers a telemarketing opt-out at their site, but annoyingly it's a form you have to print, sign, and mail in (wouldn't it be terrible for some prankster to opt you out of these calls). It times out after 5 years, and I have no idea whether it does enough. It only applies to DMA members, or others who voluntarily use the service. Here is another opt-out.
Even picking up the phone to hang up can cause you problems. The autodialer will note that the number is valid, and what time of day you're home. Cute, huh?
We have a talking caller ID and nowadays never pick up if it's "caller unknown." I don't know who that guy is, but I'm going to strangle him.
I subscribed to Bell Call Privacy up here in Canada, which blocks calls without Caller-ID numbers or allows you to program numbers to screen out. I have to say that I am less than impressed with the results. The reason I got call privacy was so I could stop the relentless telemarketer calls I was getting in the evenings and early Saturday morning. These days the calls all come from long distance numbers (about a half dozen all within the same PBX). If you try to screen out the number, the Call Privacy service rejects it! I called up a Bell operator to find out what was going on, and apparently these numbers showing up in Caller-ID belong to cell phones and that the service doesn't allow these to be screened out! Um, excuse me? So basically I'm paying for a service that is only effective at blocking my work phone and my friends number...
I think it's time to try out that sit.wav (do a google search for sit.wav, it's the three-tone 'the number you have dialed has been disconnected' sound). I know it's been mentioned here before with the Telezapper. This month's Wired talks about it, and apparently you only need to use the first tone at the beginning of your message in order to fool the telemarketer auto-dialers.
This past summer I spent a few months with a large, evil Canadian telecom company. The system in place to obtain an unlisted number or block unwanted calls is simply twisted.
The telco trained us to only suggest privacy services as a last resort and try to talk a customer out of it if they requested the features.
Our department was responsible for busting fax marketers that peppered our clients with unwanted junk. But whenever a client called to complain about annoying fax or telemarketing calls they receive at all hours of the night, we had to tell the poor sap to either subscribe to caller ID or spend money to *69 the call. If marketer's number was unlisted, we basically said "tough luck", even when we had the number right on our screen.
An open apology goes out from me to any of you that might have called me to complain about tele/fax marketers. Sorry everybody, THEY made me to it!