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FTC Moves up "Do Not Call" List Registration

tbase writes "AdAge.com has an article about the new FTC "Do-Not-Call" List which will be opening for registrations earlier than previously announced. The FTC Press Release says online registration will be available "on or around July 1." and that "Companies will face an $11,000 fine for each telemarketing call that violates the FTC's new consumer-protection provisions.""

22 of 474 comments (clear)

  1. How about a do not spam list? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    $11,000 per spam would be nice for me. I'd quit my job and just post my email address all over the intarweb.

    1. Re:How about a do not spam list? by Rai · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'd prefer a no-spam list over a no-call list. I can always waste the telemarketer's time (let them go thru their entire pitch and then say something like "What's that? Could you speak up a little?") and cost the telemarketing company money. As I've said before, if enough people did this, there would be no need for a do-not-call list.

      Spam, however, offers little or no means of retaliation. So I just start praying...

      "Merciful Lord, look down upon your humble servant and strike down the heathen company which seeks to increase the size of my privates and undo your good work. Rain tumors and boils upon them and cause their Exchange servers to crash."

    2. Re:How about a do not spam list? by jonadab · · Score: 3, Funny

      > i have better things to do...

      I prefer to just say something along the lines of "can you explain
      that in detail?" and then gently set the phone down on the counter
      and go do something else for a while.

      --
      Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
  2. Stunning by TopShelf · · Score: 4, Funny
    Even if they are following in the footsteps of many state governments, this is an astoundingly good thing. The list here in Indiana has worked remarkably well.

    The only change I'd make would be to forgo the fines in favor of treating telemarketers as "enemy combatants."

    --
    Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
  3. Happy Dude by hoopyfroodman · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Greetings, friends. Do you wish to look as happy as me? Well, you've got the power inside you right now. So use it and send one dollar to Happy Dude, 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield. Don't delay. Eternal happiness is just a dollar away." 'Happy Dude' Well, I guess Homer's marketing scam won't work anymore.... drats! There goes my retirement plan. :(

  4. Re:Do-Not-Mail by dreamchaser · · Score: 4, Funny

    We need to get the UN to enact anti-spam resolutions! They can send inspectors in to verify that all ISP's are complying even! I hear that Hans Blix is looking for work...

  5. I want on a "Please Call Me" list by L.+VeGas · · Score: 4, Funny

    It gets kind of lonely here in my basement playing Quake and massaging my mom's feet.

    1. Re:I want on a "Please Call Me" list by gid · · Score: 3, Funny

      What's your number? Post it here, we'll slashdot your phone for you.

    2. Re:I want on a "Please Call Me" list by JUSTONEMORELATTE · · Score: 4, Funny

      What's your number? Post it here, we'll slashdot your phone for you.

      303-499-7111. Call now for a REALLY good time

      --

  6. Hello by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hello, thank you for calling me. Pay $11,000. Goodbye, eat a dick, and have a nice day.

  7. Re:Why $11,000? by mhore · · Score: 5, Funny

    11,000 shall be the number, and 11,000 shall the number be. 10,999 is too low, and not the number, and 11,001 is right out.

    --

    Mmmm......sacrelicious.

  8. Logistics ... by SuperDuG · · Score: 5, Funny
    Okay, is this going to be like every other governmental agency that comes up with a great idea that will have a three year backlog on complaints. And even if it's not, is there a set definition of "solicitced" phone call.

    If you want to get really technical about it, unless you request someone call you, every phone call is unsolicited. I understand the argument about how if you give someone your phone number then you are granting them basic permissions to call you, but unless you unlist your phone number it has to be assumed that your number is not only public, but an invitation for you to be called.

    For every policy/law/order/decree there is a loophole or a way to get around it. Just a matter or time before this becomes nullified.

    I am not going to be adding myself to this list for the main reason that I love telemarketers. I actually had a gentleman call me last week.

    Telemarketer: Yes may I please speak to Doug.

    ME: May I ask who's calling please?

    TM: This is bob calling about an offer Doug just can't refuse

    ME: I don't think he can, Doug killed himself yesterday , it was so sad he had gone to college and then dropped out to be a professional rollerblader and then after a horrible drunk driving accident he broke his left leg, needless to say his skating career was over. He needed money to pay off all the medical bills so he got a job as a telemarketer selling the stupidest things over the phone and trying his best to make his quota for the night so that he could make it home to shoot up and stop the pain. Day after day he would go to work and realize how low he had sunk and truly began to question his worthiness to society as a whole. I guess he finally realized he was worthless and ate a 12 gauge shotgun shell. Messy as hell, but effective, we're still actually trying to figure out how to clean it all up. And all that just because he had a lousy job as a telemarketer.

    *click*

    Don't know how effective it is, but think of it like as an invited prank phone call where you can fuck with them all day long. Tell them you want to buy all there stuff and give the credit card number of 8888-8888-8888-8888, which you know is your number because you ordered one off of the TV and that's the number that was on it. Or just really play with their heads, tell them you want them to seduce you into buying their product or role play with them, have them call you mr moneybags or something. Ask them out on a date or something, have some real fun, these people abosultely hate their job, trust me, and you can only make it worse for them.

    Don't feel guilty, they called you ... remember?

    --
    Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
    1. Re:Logistics ... by xTown · · Score: 3, Funny

      It can backfire. I got a call once from a magazine salesman and when he asked me what magazines I liked to read, I said "I don't read too much...since the accident. I just can't get used to using Braille." He said, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that" and ended the call.

      I now receive solicitations from blindness organizations.

  9. Re:A sigh of relief by ebh · · Score: 3, Funny

    The worst suggestive sell: I went to one of the Big Three Burger Chains once, ordered my heart attack on a plate, and the poor sod behind the counter asked, as he was required to do, "Would you like HOT CRISPY FRIES with that?" No, I want COLD SOGGY FRIES, just like I got the last time I was here.

  10. Re:Do-Not-Mail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    Will there be a fine for those companies who violates the list You referred to(dmaconsumers(slashdotted))
    Good God - someone who talks in LISP!
  11. How to make a telemarketer go away by GillBates0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    When they call & ask to speak with Mr. Stevens, I explain they want the "other Mr. Stevens". As I hand the phone to my son, I tell him to explain all the fun things he did that day, from the detailed slimey booger he picked & where he wiped it, to his favorite & most proud stories about "pooping in the toilet." He is so proud of the shapes he can make. Usually after a few minutes of running around on the cordless phone explaining how proud he was with the details of his day, he comes back & says" they hung up". Imagine the rudeness of some people.....Go figure. More here

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
  12. Hidden Law.... by Tsali · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, but in a similar bill passed by the House of Representatives this week, the companies get a $12,000 tax break for each offense.

    (Fiction can be fun...)

    --
    This space for rent.
  13. You could try this ... by Bake · · Score: 5, Funny

    You: *Ring*Ring* "Hello?"

    Telemarketer: "Good evening sir, would you be interested in a pre-approved credit card?"

    Y: "Listen, buddy, I'm on the FTC's Do-not-call list. The offense for calling someone on that list is an $11000 fine."

    T: "..... oh ..."

    Y: "Now, I might be able to let this one slide for a special fee of $5000, thus saving you and your company some $6000. Interested?"

  14. Come on, the religious nuts are FUN! by siskbc · · Score: 4, Funny
    Damn, my doorbell just rang, I bet somebody wants to witness with me something about their God...

    See, that's where you have fun, with the religious nuts. Have a knife covered with fake blood at the door. Tell them they're just in time to help sacrifice the virgin.

    Or open it wearing an outfit like The Gimp in Pulp Fiction. Tell them they're just in time for "Punishment Phase."

    Or, if you're bald, put on a white robe and try to convert THEM...very calmly.

    Or just point a watergun at them and shoot them every time they try to talk. The madder they get, the more you shoot!

    Or answer the door nude. See if they can look you in the eye as you converse about the finer points of being a Jehovah's Witness. Ask them if their religion bans nudity.

    See, there's lots you can do to get some enjoyment outta them!

    --

    -Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat

  15. Re:Do-Not-Mail by Lord+Dimwit+Flathead · · Score: 4, Funny

    hell dig a hole in the ground and crawl inside. it's your land you s/b free to do that. people won't come knocking on the entrance of your underground hole to "bother" you or steal your precious resources.

    I dunno, man. Those Jehova's Witnesses are pretty persistent.

  16. My Answering Machine... by RPI+Geek · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... does all the work for me. Here it is:
    Machine: "Hello?"
    I just let the people talk until they realize I'm not actually on the phone. One time this telemarketer called - one of the ones that just start talking at full speed and don't let you interrupt - and talked for 3 or 4 minutes to the machine whlie we sat and listened while eating dinner. After she had finished talking she asked, "so all I need at this point is to verify that you are over the age of 18... Hello?.. If you don't want to talk just f***ing hang up!" - click.
    I only wish I had saved the message to call them back and tell them how their foul-mouthed representative had raped my virgin ears and that I would never buy anything from them :)

    --

    - "Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen. But Old Man Stauf is waiting there, crazy sick and mean!"
  17. Re:Do-Not-Mail by Drachemorder · · Score: 3, Funny
    "Those Jehova's Witnesses are pretty persistent."

    You can get rid of them, too. Just draw a chalk outline of a body outside your door/cave/whatever, and scatter some JW pamphlets around. Then you can sleep all day if you want to.