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When Telemarketers Harass Telecoms Companies
farnz writes "Andrews & Arnold, a small telecoms company in the UK, have recently been hit with an outbreak of illegal junk calls. Unlike larger firms, they've come up with an innovative response — assign 4 million numbers to play recordings to the telemarketers, put them on the UK's Do-Not-Call list and see what happens. Thus far, the record is over 3 minutes before a telemarketer works out what's going on." The sound quality (and the satisfying humor) of the recording gets better as it goes on.
Headline should be: "Telemarketer failed the Turing test."
But I guess this is not as much breaking news as it is a confirmation, .
This comment may contain speech figures. Reader discretion is advised.
We need an opt in list.
Then it should be published on the internet because it is those bastards who are the ones who have kept the spammers in work all these years, while the rest of us have been trying to get rid of them!
They deserve vilification just as much as the spammers themselves.
They should have randomized the recordings. It doesn't really make any sense. I mean if your employees hear it maybe 3 times, they can recognize it in seconds and hang up and it won't waste nearly enough time. Someone could get a line of volunteers and record like a hundred random "hold on just a minute...I can talk in a second..." type intros followed by random noises and mostly silence. Now that would waste time!
Also, if they're the phone company, why didn't they just identify the real, actual source of the calls or even just pretend to be interested enough to get the company name and then sue the pants off them and put the upper management in jail?
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
he has a right to make a living - working on the dust carts. He has no right to harass random people. This is not free speech. This is expensive (for the recipient) speech. I think these people are entitled to a term of community service - preferably a long term.
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
Since the time wasted of my life can never be recovered, a punitive fine of ten times that wasted time removed from the telemarketing company CEO's life should be perfectly reasonable.
'Did you resent that waste of your time? Press *1 to remove one minute fifteen seconds from Mr M Sandon's life now.'
I understand it's an option on the latest Asterisk build.
The problem is that the marketeer does not care.
Current TPS regulations punish the marketeer and do nothing about the company that ordered it and for the carrier supporting it.
Marketeers usually work on some sort of commission basis. Nobody (except politicians) pays by the number of calls dialed these days.
If 4 million numbers divert to the same honeypot, the marketeers will soon find they can't make any money in that telco's numbers, and they move on.
If its just an auto-dialer playing a taped message, the honeypot might be ineffective, although it still spares the subscriber from getting these calls.
But for those systems that put a sales person on the line as soon as there is an answer, its bound to punish them a little bit till they move to other targets.
As the recipient of too many of these calls, I really don't care who gets punished as long someone does. Punishment need not be all that precisely targeted, as long as someone in the delivery chain feels some pain I'm quite content to let that person redirect the punishment to the proper party.
Costs will go up, and this advertising method will, like the door to door salesman, become too expensive to deploy.
I can dream, can't I?
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
to answer your questions: -the numbers are on a do not call list, so the companies haven't got the slightest right to call them, it's illegal in fact
In this scenario, yes; to be entirely honest, I'm not entirely sure--haven't looked yet--but I'm willing to place a bet that if an unused number is on the United States' Do Not Call list, it doesn't mean a whole lot because a subscriber did not request it, rendering that fact moot. Might be different in the UK, I don't live there, and in many facets their laws and trends are different from those in the US.
The number still belongs to someone, or they wouldn't be allowed to hook up a honeypot system in the first place, ergo they are allowed to request that it be put on the Do Not Call list. They'd just have to take it off the list when they sell the number on to someone else if the subscriber requested it.
Hi, I'm a professional face-puncher. The professional face-puncher has a right to make a living. You may choose to block my punch or to not be there when my punch arrives, but I will still try to make a living punching your face "because I have the right to make a living."
Hi, I'm a professional pot-banger. The professional pot-banger has a right to make a living. You may choose to block my banging or to not be there when my banging occurs, but I will still try to make a living banging my pot "because I have the right to make a living."
Hi, I'm a professional flatulator. The professional flatulator has a right to make a living. You may choose to block my farts or to not be there when my fart arrives, but I will still try to make a living farting on your face "because I have the right to make a living."
I do hope I made my point clear with regards to your first sentence.
Just so we're all clear, telemarketing companies are scum of the earth. The people calling you are just trying to do their job (and aren't getting paid much for it).
While I can sympathize with someone who has to work a job they hate, they chose to do that job. In some neighborhoods kids join gangs because they think it's the only way to survive. That doesn't make them any less scummy when they commit crimes.
You don't get to absolve yourself of antisocial acts by saying you're "just doing your job".
Another day, another update to a Google android app.