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Australian Do Not Call Register

Posted by Zonk on from the still-waiting-for-the-shoot-the-messenger-button dept.

green-e writes "Looks like us Aussies are finally introducing a national 'Do Not Call' register. Under the plan all telemarketers would be banned from calling homes after 8pm on weekdays and 5pm on weekends. Companies that call a household on the register could face fines of up to $220,000 (AU), which could be legislated early next year. About time something like this should be set up. How effective has it been in the US ?"

6 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. As an Australian I can honestly say by AbRASiON · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's about time.

    This is awesome and I hope it's enforced thoroughly.
    Sure it's going to cost some people some jobs - but lately the calls have been coming from other countries anyhow.

    Marketing is invasive enough as it is, my number at home is not to be called for any old reason - this is just plain RUDE, 30 years ago you wouldn't dream of this crap happening.

    1. Re:As an Australian I can honestly say by ankarbass · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm not on the american register. But, I've noticed several things.

      1) There ARE fewer calls. Fewer companies seem to be willing to risk the fines or pay for the lists.

      2) Companies seem to love to play the "We have a relationship" card much more than they used to. They go out of their way to make sure I know that.

      3) Those that call are much more aggressive. They are using automatic systems to make calls more and more. I seldom get a person directly on the other end. Even though I only get a few calls a month, it is for this and other reasons that I'm ditching my landline and going to voip only.

      With voip it is both easy to have multiple phone numbers that can be changed quickly. Further it's much easier to filter by caller id and completely control how each call is handled. f you don't know the secret personal number which I can change at the drop of a hat, you won't get to talk directly to me ever. I have separate permanent numbers for places I do business with so that they will ALWAYS have to leave a message. Those numbers can take ALL the junk calls they want to dish out because they will NEVER ring a phone in my house. Only my personal voip numbers ring a phone and only if your number hasn't been blacklisted.

      Voip is to phones what email is to postal mail. Your physical address no longer has any meaning and it's easy to set it up so that you control what is coming and going based on how available you want to be.

      --
      Wanted: Clever sig, top $ paid, all offers considered.
    2. Re:As an Australian I can honestly say by dotwaffle · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Maybe it's just me - but I'm really scared by VoIP. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great, and Asterisk is an amazing tool, but if I can set it up, so can Mr. 419-Nigeria-Scam, so can Mr. Viagra-automated-selling-tool. I can see a time when my phone is going to ring every 30 seconds, and it's going to be a marketer from a foreign country who does not recognise the UK's Telephone Preference Scheme.

      I can see trouble ahead.

    3. Re:As an Australian I can honestly say by tpgp · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Well, as an Australian I can honestly say that this will be useless.

      From TFA:

      Market research companies, pollsters, charities and religious organisations are likely to be exempted.


      Riiiiiiggght.... Market resarch companies on the list of exempted organisations?

      I'm also quite sure that Politicians will be exempt from this.

      And quite frankly - the one person I do not want spamming me is John Howard (lying Australian Prime minister)

      This is the phone message he left on many peoples phones prior to the last election:

      JOHN HOWARD (phone message): Hello, I'm John Howard. I've taken the unusual step of contacting you with this recorded message to let you know we have recently announced what our first seven tasks will be if re-elected to office. So on Saturday, I ask you vote for your local Liberal member Peter Lindsay. This is John Howard. Thank you for your time.


      Think about it - will you trust a do-not-call register from a goverment with a prime minister willing to make marketing calls and send email spam through his son's company?
      --
      My pics.
    4. Re:As an Australian I can honestly say by DingerX · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes, in the US, I was on the Do-not-call list, and it did kill a lot of the calls I was getting. For a while. Then election season rolled around and I got call after call from these robo-dialing get-out-the-vote thing. Excuse me? You don't even have the courtesy to pay someone to interrupt my day, and you want me to VOTE for your sorry ass? What kind of a mandate are you looking for? "A vote for me is a vote for more automated government intrusions on your personal life!"

      Then someone figured out that "market research" can also be used for marketing purposes. So the calls started coming back:

      Sir, I'm doing a market survey. What do you think of the [em]Gazette[/em]'s new layout and extensive sports coverage?

      The real solution is burn your phone.

  2. Only not after 8pm? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... why not a complete ban on those annoying calls all day?