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Do Not Call Registry Gets Glowing Reviews
coondoggie writes to tell us that in a recent report to Congress by the FTC, the National Do Not Call Registry got glowing reviews. They seem to be well established now with $21 million in fees in the bank, 22 successful court cases, and an almost 70% approval rating. "In 2007, a total of 6,242 entities paid fees totaling $21,602,003 for access to the National Registry. According to the FTC, telemarketers and sellers can access registered telephone numbers and pay the appropriate fee for that access, if any, through an Internet website dedicated to that purpose. The only information about consumers that companies receive from the National Registry is the registered telephone number. Since the Registry's inception, a total of 18,197 unique entities have paid fees for access to the National Registry. The total amount of fees paid by all entities since the inception of the National Registry through the end of 2007 is $80,629,778, the report stated."
1) Still opt-out style. Unless you add yourself to the list, you are fair game for callers
2) Still ineffective against pollsters, politicians, and fundraisers
It's better than nothing, but there are certainly ways to make it better.
I thought the goal of the registry was to exclude marketers from getting this info? So who gve the glowing reviews?
If things move to the point where it is socially unacceptable to bother people at home, then this is a good transitional state.
No one bothers people on cell phones. Probably due to pricing. Interesting, how the flat rate for the home line makes spamming people somehow acceptable.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Nope, that's exactly how it works. The trick is that if they call people on the list, they get fined, so it's cheaper to buy access to the list.
http://www.ftc.gov/os/2008/07/P034305FY0dncreport.pdf I'm still reviewing it, but for doing what it's defined role is, it seems to do it well (notwithstanding the exceptions for politicians, charities, etc).
Even if you're registered on the national list, I highly recommend that you check into state laws (and lists, if they have them), as there are variations in what is and isn't protected.
For fellow New Yorkers, here is the official NYS law regarding "Do Not Call".
Misery loves company. Online misery loves unsuspecting random strangers.
Overall, things have improved a great deal. My telemarketing calls have probably dropped by about 75% since this law was introduced. But I still get WAY more than I should be getting (which should be none). Until they close these loopholes, a landline is still a bit of a pain in the ass.
Fortunately, both groups use computer autodialers which let me spot them very easily. If there is even the slightest pause after I say "Hello?" I know it's a telemarker (a normal person will respond immediately, an autodialer takes a little time to connect you with a live salesman). I've also found it helpful to always give my voicemail number at work as my "phone number" with any new company I do business with (telemarketers never leave messages).
I have a cousin who actually LOVES to get telemarketing calls, though. He has found all kinds of creative ways to screw with them. He will try to keep them on the line as long as possible, encouraging them with lots of questions and feigned interest, only to tell them "No" at the end (time is money for telemarketers). He will ask them "Hey could you hang on just a minute?" then put the phone down and go watch TV. My personal favorite is when he responds to them with "EXCUSE ME, but I'm trying to masturbate here!"
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Who are the 30% of people who don't approve of the Do Not Call list? The telemarketing industry is not that big. I don't think 30% of people are adamant enough to say that all telemarketing should be illegal, therefore they disapprove Do Not Call list: These people would probably be happy that there's something helping out. One statistic in the article showed that only 18% of respondents who placed themselves on the Do Not Call list now receive zero telemarketing calls, so maybe people don't feel the list is effective enough. But only 9% of respondents claimed no reduction in calls; 91% said the Do Not Call list reduced telemarketing calls. Yet these people still don't approve? I don't get it.
my blog
My gf worked for a telemarketer for 1 week before she quit out of frustration. They used a computer system that had thousands of scripted responses for any reason imaginable a person would use to reject an offer. The phone numbers were automatically dialed by the computer and when a number popped up that was on the DNC list you got a warning message on your screen. Of course everyone was told to ignore the message and make the call anyways. We later reported them to the police.
Tele marketers can choose to ignore the DNC list.
You have the right to say what you want. You don't have the guarantee of an audience.
-Bucky
I wouldn't think so. Like I said in another post, I used to work for a company that did outbound campaigns. I had to keep the list up-to-date and also purge the dialing lists of those numbers on the National DNC List. I don't remember the exact number of the fine, but it was pretty large and on a per call basis. Based on this article the per-call fine is $10,000. You'd better be making a HUGE margin on each sale to make up those costs.
You have freedom of speech, not freedom to bother me. "Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins".
Your freedom of speech does not extend to standing on the sidewalk outside my residence with a bullhorn. My right to ignore you supercedes your right to speak.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Actually the seemed to have worked out a good balance. A lot of people are crabbing about the exceptions but those exceptions are for the protection of political and religious speech.
Commercial speech has less protections which is why cigarette companies can not advertise on TV and such.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Put the television up rather loud, let them talk all the way through their script, agree that all the offers are very tempting (ahu, ahu) and then when you get an opportunity to ask a question, just say: "Do you think I will be able to get social security to pay for that?" ....buuuuurrr!
Posts, MyBio or Sig, may contain satire, sarcasm, bolded nouns be sardonic or even witty & be Church of SD
What, your first amendment right to call me in the middle of dinner to try to sell me a carpet cleaning service? Or to have a robo-dialer which will leave me answering a phone with nobody on the other end?
Individuals have first amendment rights. I've never bought the argument that companies have the same thing. I fail to see why we should protect the ability of companies to make unsolicited calls to people who don't want them. Are you saying spam should be protected speech too?
Besides, if you are going to do this kind of call, wouldn't it be better to get a list of the people who you know aren't interested rather than hearing me tell you to "fuck off" for the 3rd time this week?
I realize the poor schmuck on the other end of the phone is just doing a job -- but, I don't give a crap and I don't owe him any politeness. If you show up on my doorstep and aggressively won't leave or keep coming back when I tell you to, I'm gonna knock your ass down. If you call me, I'm going tell you exactly once nicely -- there after, you're not getting nice. (And, believe me, I've been called 20 times in two weeks by the same organization. There's no point in politely explaining after the 1st time.)
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
1. Cost onus is on the callers (i.e. I don't have to pay some fee to put my name on the list--the telemarketers have to pay to get it or risk breaking the law).
2. I have no idea what the costs associated with running the lists are, but 21M for 1 year in fees sounds pretty good. A government program that doesn't waste a lot of money--hallelujah.
3. It has the desired effect. 91% with decreased unwanted calls.
Another reason people might disapprove is that the Do Not Call list preempted state laws that let the person called sue for a nontrivial chunk of change. The federal law only allows the fed to fine and sue. Then the fed gets the money and the callee only gets more aggravation.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Wait... Are you trying to say that 911 is a vehicle of free speech? If the 911 operator didn't answer it would be a violation of my rights? That having a 911 operator proves that I have a right to an audience?
I don't get it. Was that a joke somehow?
911 failing to answer is an undesirable situation, not an infringement of rights.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
These crap calls are a natural result of the DNC. They spoof the caller id and they never tell you what company they are calling from until after you "press 1" and thus accept the call.
I've had these people two or three times a day leaving messages on my answering machine at home. It varies between "you've won a wonderful vacation, press 1 to collect or 9 to be removed from the list" and "this is your final notification about your credit account, press 1 ...". The caller id is a fake 800/866/877 number and the name of a state (MISSOURI, e.g.). Yeah, the entire state of Missouri is calling on line 1 ... yesterday I heard from the state of Illinois!
There is no way to file a complaint because there is no information the FTC can use to find these people.
Keeping them on the line doesn't solve your problem. They'll just call again. The dialers are automatic and if the number isn't removed it will just come up in the list again.
Congress should be ashamed that this is most highly thought of and effective law passed in the last 30 years!
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
"Cause you see, here in the US we happen to have one company per area that is allowed to supply land lines."
You've only identified the problem all the more clearly. Government restriction. Get rid of the restriction on the number of telephone companies in an area, and maybe you'll get some choice. Your argument, as it stands now, is basically "the government doesn't give me any choice, so it shouldn't give anyone else a choice either." In other words, you are accepting the status quo in defense of the status quo.
"PS. The entire "personal" information provided by the DNC is your phone number, not exactly an exploitable source of information when the whole system is number based and most telemarketers are behind auto-dialers."
That was not my primary concern, though. My main concern is with the rights violations that come with government-backed compulsion. Besides, you can't say that it's impossible for me get your personal information just from your phone number. Even better, I have an entire list of confirmed, active phone numbers for which to gather personal information! Sure, alone it's just a number, but with a little social engineering it can turn into a whole lot more.
He explicitly used a sarcasm tag, oddly enough.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Sorry but that is no different than people protesting or putting political signs up or stopping you to ask you to sign a petition.
Putting up political signs on public property is littering and thus illegal. (There are sometimes also specific statutes against it.)
Putting up your political signs on my property is probably vandalism, maybe littering, and is illegal either way.
You can only put up your political signs on your property. Also, you can only protest if you're not causing a nuisance. You have the right to peaceably assemble. Not to make an ass of yourself.
You were saying?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I recently switched to VoIP here, and deliberately did /not/ transfer my old phone number. The VoIP provider has an (optional) service that sends anon CID calls to an answerer that asks them to dial a random set of numbers to prove they are human. If they don't, they don't get thru.
Of course, as about all VoIP providers, they bundle CID (along with all sorts of other fancy stuff the former monopolists charge extra for) at no additional charge. When I upgraded to VoIP I took the opportunity to upgrade my home system as well, and got a "Speaking CallerID" setup. It's GREAT!! Where previously I had found CID almost useless and had therefore canceled it as it cost more, choosing instead to let everything go to answerer and I'd only answer it if I recognized the caller, now I get the announcement of who it is. Some still come up "Cell Phone ", but once I put them in the phone book it announces that name instead. After a few weeks, I was able to ignore anything generic as everyone I wanted to take calls from was already in its phone book and thus no longer generic.
I've had the system for about a year now, and in that time, have only gotten three apparent phone-spammer calls. Those three were using automated dialers and faked CIDs, aaaa, bbbb and jjjj or some such (BTW, it can be rather "interesting" to hear the phone's interpretation of say, initials), to bypass the random number dial intelligence test. As I also have a phone-zapper (what was originally advertised for $50 I picked up at the dollar store), set to play the "disconnected tri-tone" error on answer (I tell anyone I /want/ to call to expect it), all I did was pickup and at the tone the other end immediately hung up -- it was a bot, as I said. That was a couple months ago so it was 10 months with ZERO phone-spammers, the three in quick succession, and another couple months without. Thus, the speaking CID hasn't been nearly as useful as I expected it to be, but it has still been worth it, as I don't even have to look to know who's calling, now.
Since VoIP is actually competitive, prices only run about $20/mo (e911 and regulatory fees included, a bit more than that, $25-30, if paid month to month, a bit less, $15-20, if prepaid a year at a time, again including all the "extra" fees) including full US long distance coverage and all the other stuff the former monopolists want to charge an arm and a leg for, caller-id, three-way-calling, call-waiting, voice mail, etc. In fact, due to the competition, most providers add either even fancier features -- scheduled do-not-disturb, automated-wakeup-calls, the random-number-human-test thing I mentioned for no-CID calls above -- or limited international calling, sometimes including not only Canada but much of Western Europe in the same unlimited calling $20-ish/mo fee.
Sure I have the occasional echo or dropout, but unlike the former monopolists or the cableco's phone offering, these guys actually know how to treat a customer, and because one can now shop nationwide or even worldwide for providers, they don't forget it either, or their customers today simply end up someone else's customers tomorrow! There's no way I'd go back!
(FWIW, unlike Internet, I consider phone service including 911 service a luxury, and I keep e911 service altho it's not quite as direct now, so dropping the wired provider wasn't a problem. I've never had a cellphone as I've simply never been able to cost-justify the additional cost given my usage. Some may prefer keeping minimal measured-call service or the like, if they are uncomfortable losing the security of conventional 911 service.)
I'm not going to say who my provider is as this isn't about selling them. There's several providers out there with similar offerings. Just do your research. FWIW, I started with the commercial VoIP provider listing at Wikipedia tho I ended up with someone not listed there. If you REALLY want to know who it is, post a request and I'll say, but you really SHOULD do at least some o
Duncan
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master,
and if you use the program, he is your master."
R Stallman
Before the DNC list was even established, I was on the Direct Marketing Association's do not call list. And it worked great; no one ever bothered me. Then the DNC law was passed and DMA terminate their list and I signed up for the new federal one.
Suddenly I started getting all kinds of calls. From charities, pollsters, and ESPECIALLY political groups -- all of whom are exempt from the law. It got so annoying that when it came time to renew my DNC registration, I decided to let my name fall off.
And since then the calls have mostly stopped. That's right, being on the DNC list actually increased the number of annoying calls I got. All this law does is spend taxpayer dollars to build a huge database of phone numbers that political groups can use for fundraising purposes.
What a load of horseshit. The DNC list didn't even make a dent in the number of marketing calls that I get. If anything the load has increased many fold since its implementation. I get more calls than ever. Frankly I think the DNC list is being used like unsubscribe forms are for spammers. Every single sales calls I get I always tell the person that they called a number on the DNS, ask for their company name, physical address of the company, and their employee ID information. About 9 out of 10 times they hang up on me at that point. The DNC is feel-good worthless political horseshit. It's the typical kind of crap that comes out of Washington. The best answer to sales calls is an answering and caller-ID. Don't recognize the # then don't answer the phone. Let it go to VM and listen to it then. Other than that simply hang up on them. Forget about being rude. They're less than honest by calling a # that's on the DNC. The need to get a real job and leave us the hell alone. Hang up on them. Don't argue. Just hang up.
The DNC list worked wonderfully for me for a bit more than a year. Now, I average about two spam calls per day. I can try to complain, but first I have to get the spammers to identify themselves, which for some reason they aren't eager to do.
When I sent an email to the feds (using the link at the site) asking them what to do when I couldn't get the phone # or company name, it took them a month to respond with a form email which didn't say anything about my question.
No glowing review here.