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Slashback: Stupidity, Telebastardy, Fast Search
"I read your Overture/FAST story on Slashdot and wanted to make a clarification.Thanks for the correction, Peter.Your headline implies that Overture is completely acquiring FAST. This is completely incorrect. Overture has only acquired FAST's Internet business unit assets, which includes FAST WebSearch, FAST PartnerSite and FAST's popular search site, AlltheWeb.com."
Isn't that the stuff that sells? icantblvitsnotbutter writes "In what looks like a scoop, The Register has an article covering the latest in the ongoing battle between Gary Kremen and VeriSign. The High Court of California has rejected a request to consider the legal issue of whether a domain can legally be deemed as property. This is a huge help for (relatively) money-strapped Kremen, whose opponent VeriSign was evidently using the request as a delaying tactic. VeriSign previously had breathlessly warned that a wrong decision would 'cripple the Internet'."
And they made such a pleasant version of Debian, too ... robmered writes "Three years after receiving US$135M in cash from Microsoft, and one and a half years after Xandros bought Corel's Linux assets, The Age is reporting that Corel has finally removed all Linux software from its website. The end of an era, or a margin note in history? The Age thinks the former, but the strength of Open Office, Gimp and numerous desktop environment efforts seem to indicate that the Linux bandwagon will roll on regardless."
Certainly, I would like to talk at length about your business proposal. Would you like to know my fees in advance? KC7GR writes "There's an article running at DMNews about a company called Castel, Inc. that has, supposedly, developed software that can be used by automated dialing equipment to bypass a TeleZapper, or similar SIT generators, and get through to your phone no matter what.
It is also claimed that the software can deliver any type of text or phone number to a recipient's caller ID box, no matter if it's true or false, and that it can also bypass the anti-telemarketer blocks made available by some telephone companies, such as SBC and Qwest.
Granted, this software is not cheap (about $2,700.00 per calling position, apparently), and Castel is quick to claim that they created this stuff primarily for collection agencies to help them get through to deadbeats who use TeleZappers. Does anyone here really think that'll stop telemarketers from using the same crap, just because they can?"
Brevity is one antidote to stupidity. Yoda2 writes "Here is Part II of the Salon story on the Loebner Prize that Slashdot covered yesterday."
When someone invented a caller id blocker blocker blocker.
Er, nope.
And people still fork out $5 a month for CLI. Meanwhile there's just no way a telemarketer can get through to my phone, and I don't breach the privacy of my friends and collegues (why should I force them to give me their phone number? I wouldn't force them to give me their address before letting them in the house...) and all because of a $15 piece of junk I got from the local branch of Wal*Mart.
Bliss. And my electricity bill's lower too. Between this and my new Mac, I can power the entire house on my own smugness...
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
This new technology allows the telemarketers to make any name appear that they want. Great. Now I'm going to get calls from "President Bush" and "Saddam Hussein" and "Michael Jackson", instead of "Unknown Out of Area Caller". Which is worse? ;-)
--sex
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
or maybe you are just a bastard
So, who aquired Make.Money.FAST?
Karma: Marginal (mostly due to the border around the website)
--sex
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
Incoming Call From: Richard Stallman ...
GNU/Decline?
And why exactly can't we have a SPEWS/blackhole type of call blocking list? I'm paitently waiting.
1. The fact that I don't have a girlfriend
2. The fact I use M$ Windoze
3. The fact that I like vi and COBOL.
There's a growing sense that even if The Future comes,
most of us won't be able to afford it.
-- Lemmy
> > Abort, Retry, Fail?
>
> Phuleeeze. These are telemarketers. It'll be:
> Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?
Puhleeeze. These are TELEMARKETERS. Itll be:
Retry, Retry, Retry, Retry?
Because if they'd really wanted a vendor who was accountable to the customer, and who delivered what was paid for, why the fuck'd they choose Verisign in the first place?
Old joke:
Q: How do you know someone in your office is talking to someone at Verisign?
A: You hear someone three cubes away, screaming at the top of their lungs into the telephone "you dumb motherfucker!"
I used to do telephone surveys. (Bad economy! I needed the job!) Since we actually weren't selling anything we'd press 1 and go through.
One lady I called had an unlisted number. She was really upset and asked how we were able to call her. I explained that we were using an autodialer that dialed numbers at random.
She then said, and I quote, "Well, what I want to know is how can you randomly dial an unlisted number!!", and then abruptly hung up. Good thing to, since I started laughing my ass off at that point.
get dragon naturally speaking (voice recognition) and a text to speech proggy, combined with one of those bots. hook it all up to your phone line, i bet you can seriously annoy the telemarketers having them talk to eliza!
:P
thanks god for canada... we rarely ever get any kind of marketing calls here
Unless, of course, they sell telezappers via telemarketing.
... could you overnight courier that please? Thanks."
Ring. Ring.
"Uh. hello?"
"Hello, occupant! I believe you are the proud owner of one Telezapper Mark I?"
"Uh. Yes."
"How would you like it if I sent you the mark II model for only $50 +tax? It will help keep out annoying calls like this?"
"Uh, right. My credit card number is
I simply do not understand people who duck telemarketers. They are the greatest free stress relievers in existance.
Come home from work pissed (as in mad, not drunk), the phone rings, tear the jackass on the other end a new one. You don't know them, they are vermin, your karma is clean.
I have made MCI telemarketers cry before.
Hey, if they want respect they should pick up cans or work at MickeyD's...
I used to write automated call software (incoming and outgoing) and I worked with this all the time. It used to REALLY piss off people who have their caller ID blocked (or have used *67) yet have their number recognized anyway. Hehehe.
In fact, I used to work for a guy that would hold a grudge against everybody that ever quit the job, and he would literally call them and harass them and do all kinds of weird shit. So, when I quit working for him, I quit answering the phone. He was also paranoid and had his call ID blocked, so nobody could see his number when he calls them. The first time he called (idiot, he left a message so I knew it was him) I waited until the answering machine finished, and then I picked up the phone and blocked his number. You don't have to know the number you're blocking, you just have to be able to block it right after they call.
He was confused, and it took him something close to a week to figure out that he should call from another phone. Heh. Then he didn't harass me, saying something about respecting me for figuring out how to block his phone. Idiot.
Like what I said? You might like my music
Is a telezapper an access control mechanism. Yes? If so, this device sounds like it would violate the DMCA: thou shalt not bugger around with an access control mechanism.