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Do-Not-Call List, Two Years Later
Carl Bialik writes "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that two years after the National Do Not Call Registry took effect, regulators say the system is working, but only six federal fines have been issued. More than half of registered consumers say they're still getting unwanted calls, according to a recent phone survey. Now, a fresh fight is brewing over which calls are restricted and which ones aren't. Twenty-five states maintain their own do-not-call lists, and many of them impose tougher restrictions on the kinds of calls that telemarketers can make."
But then, my calls had dropped pretty low even before the do-not-call list went into effect. I had learned the magic phrase, "Could you take me off the call list?", which I diligently said to every telemarketer. By law, they have to take you off, so that had already almost completely solved the problem. The national do-not-call list eliminated the last bits.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Once and for all, somebody needs to drive this into their heads: it is MY phone, and you may not use it (i.e. call me) without my consent. P.S. refusing to pay $3.50 a month to NOT be listed in the phone book does not mean I consent to have you morons call me.
-paul
Pistol caliber is like religion: everyone has their favourite, and theirs is the only right choice.
That doesn't mean their calls aren't unwanted... Just not illegal.
Well, considering charities, political parties, pollsters, and anyone you've had a prior business relationship with can still call you, there is a significant percent of telemarketers who can get through.
Then there is the fact that to report someone, you have to jump through hoops, and have a lot of information from the telemarketer, most people probably don't report illegal calls if they get them.
Lastly, I think we need a "Do-Not-Fax" list, as it drives me crazy that people will send vacation offers (that are probably scams) to the office I work at sometimes (which is technically a residential number), and not only does it waste time, it wastes ink and paper. Essentially, we have to pay to get spammed.
Someone might have already mentioned this, but the reason they are probably getting so many of these calls are because more and more "surveys" are being done.
I worked for a place as a second job during the summer where we could call and do "surveys" with people. Surveys are OK under the Donotcall list. Our surveys, however, most of the time weren't really surveys as much as a way around the do not call list. Anyone who had half a brain could pretty well tell that these were sales calls disguised as surveys. We didn't ask you to buy anything or anything like that, but we did tell you all about the survey sponsor's product and why it was sooooo much better than the competitors. Things like that. I would say there were only 1 or two legitimate surveys that that survey company actually preformed. Those legitimate ones were actually about how you were treated or how the company was doing. The rest were sales pitches in disguise. It was horrible.
I think this is why a lot of people are saying they are still getting calls, though I haven't rtfa. They get these surveys that are sales pitches and consider them to be sale calls. I think the majority of people do not realize that surveys DO NOT COUNT for the do not call list
"More than half of registered consumers say they're still getting unwanted calls, according to a recent phone survey." ...was this phone survey unwanted as well? Nothing would be more ironic than an unwated phone survey about unwanted phone calls.
The problem is that a very large proportion of these telemarketing companies are dodgy, unprofessional, and sometimes illegal. Just like e-mail spam companies.
Most of the telemarketing phone calls I recieved had to do with me sending them $200 as an entrance fee for a contest for a trip to Jamaica, and things of that sort. Do you really think they'd take you off their "list"? Chances are they have no list at all.
UNIX: A computer user is defined as a programmer. WINDOWS: A computer user is defined as a consumer.
Snail mail ads are easy to deal with. The Post Office has a "Form 1500", or application for prohibitory order, that you can file with a copy of any ad you consider obscene. Note that it is at the sole discretion of the recpient to decide what is obscene. The Post Office is not allowed to question it. The Supreme Court case law was over a dry goods catalog.
Once you file it, the Post Office is specifically required to compel the sender to stop sending you ads.
Or, you could just fill them all out and send them in. It costs them about $50 to pull a full credit report on you. This is a bad idea on cards that have an annual fee, of course, unless you're sure they'll reject you.
Spammers say the exact same things you do.
I don't want either you of contacting me, ever. Period. Never.
Why is this concept so difficult to understand?
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Tell you what. Suppose we have a new rule that anyone who wants can punch you in the face. But you can make any one person stop by saying "Don't punch me any more, please!"
Asking to be removed from a telemarketer's list is kind of like that, except they can punch you from anywhere in the world.
Now do you see why people get pissed off?
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.