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Telco Spams and Gets Huge Fine
jack_call writes "According to The Register the large German based mobilephone operator 'Debitel' was fined $359000 for (deliberately!) sending a total 48000 spam messages( mail: 36000, sms: 12000) to Danish costumers of rival company 'Telmore'. According to different Danish media outlets, they appealed immediately, mostly because the fine comes out at about a sixth of what 'Debitel' made last fiscal year after taxes."
If I want to know about some offer, I will ask. Thank you.
Was thinking of writing to a newspaper, but that idea got lost somewhere in a mire of laziness
... and I shall strike upon thee with great vegeance, furious anger and a slightly positive karma.
I think they got what they deserve. Although, before this turns into a disscussion about telemarketing, and how everyone hates them, remember: Telemarketers are human too. Yes, mod me down for the horrible, evil statment I just made. But, they are. The person you actually talk to has nothing to do with the product, they're just someone hired to call people on a list given to them. They probably don't even like their job, but need employment and are doing it for the money, so think about that before you verbally attack one. How do I know? Well, my mother was one for a short while, many years ago.
With all that said, there is one way to get rid of telemarketers that is funny and polite.
Telemarketer: Hello, may I speak to whomever is in charge of chosing telephone service?
You: Yes, this is him.
T: Great, would you be interested in lowering your monthly telephone bill? If you switch to A&G telco service, I can offer you a great, low rate.
Y: We don't have telephone service in my house, or telephones.
T: Surely you must, sir. How are we having this converstaion?
Y: That's a good question. But I can assure you we don't have telephone service.
T: Are you sure.
Y: Positively.
T: Alright then... Uh, sorry to bother you.
You could say this for anything they're selling. "Sorry, we don't have ______." They'll almost always be confused and just apologize and hang up.
You seem to be in the UK, so... Are you registered with the TPS? If not do so. It only cuts out the semi-legitimate ones, but that is a supprisingly proportion, got me doen from one every day or so to one every week.
Then make sure you have caller ID and don't answer calls from hidden numbers (unless you work at home and use that line for work, in which case you have to take your chances in working hours. Sigh!). Your friends shouldn't be hiding their identity from you, so this filters out almost all of the rest of the telesales and `surveys'.
_O_
.|< The named which can be named is not the true named
I live in fear of this happening on a large scale in the United States. In a country where we pay (at this point) for incoming calls, I'm just waiting for the deluge of spam messages and telemarketer phone calls to appear on my cellular phone.
I own a small business, and our fax machine has virtually been made useless by the junk faxes we get every month. I promise you, we spend more on incoming faxes (ink, paper) than we do on outgoing faxes, none of which we ever "intentionally" signed up for. And the junk-fax companies have the balls to say "we're only making a living" ??? Please.
Destroy these people before they destroy another technology.
StupidChildren...the reason jesus is crying
Companies should get a simple message - break the law and there will be serious penalties, not some small slap on the wrist that means that you can almost cost it in as an acceptable and calculable risk.