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Reverse Robocall Turns Tables On Politicians

jfruhlinger writes "One of the great banes of election season is that any politician can shell out a few pennies per voter and phone-spam thousands of people who'd rather not hear a recorded pitch. But turnabout's fair play, and now a service called reverse robocall will deliver your recorded message to elected officials as often as you'd like for a nominal fee. If there's a representative you'd like to call repeatedly, check them out."

5 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Legality? by eln · · Score: 5, Informative
    Yes. Yes they did.

    Also, repeatedly calling the same number with the same message (as opposed to calling many numbers with the same message like the campaigns do) could be considered harassment.

  2. Re:Legality? by afidel · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually the do-not-call legislation only covers entities which "engage in any "telemarketing" or "telephone solicitation" activities, as defined by the FTC and FCC, respectively.

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  3. Re:Bipartisan? by green1 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I can't speak for the US, but in Canada Robo-calls are already illegal... unless you're a politician... must be nice to be able to write yourself an exemption in to any law you pass.

    I generally make it a policy never to vote for anyone who uses such scummy practices. Problem is, I believe that I should vote, and last election there weren't any candidates on the ballot who hadn't robo-called my cell phone at least once, one of them almost 10 times!

  4. Re:Excellent! by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1, Informative

    They* killed a killed a guy for being ... "dangerous terrorist". No trial, no judge, no lawyer, no oversight. All they have to do is label people "terrorist" and ... bam, license to kill, but I'm the delusional one. Good one.

    *They being Obama right now, but I wouldn't put it past any of the (R) people either.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  5. Re:Excellent! by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 3, Informative

    They* killed a killed a guy for being ... "dangerous terrorist". No trial, no judge, no lawyer, no oversight.

    Care to share the name? News reports? Evidence? If you have evidence, go to the press, or Cryptome or...

    ...

    So, back to the point, citations please.

    Well, assuming GP was referring to US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, there is no shortage of press commentary. Apparently US citizen Salmir Khan was killed in the same attack, but was not deliberately targeted, being just another collateral casualty. The press reports include statements of concern regarding this extra-judicial execution of al-Awlaki being ordered by the sitting US president. It was not a "heat of the moment" death in a shootout or in an attempt to escape from being arrested. Moreover, was not convicted of any offence, not even in absentia. Although many accusations were made (presumably with justification), no charges were ever laid against him. From what is in the press reports, he was by no means a Mahatma Gandhi, but the ordering of an execution without even going through the motions of a trial (not even a mock trial) should be disturbing to any US citizen. It's easier to slide down the slippery slope than to climb back up.

    Oh, here's a few press references, in the Wahington Post, the Huffington Post, and CBS News. Use your Google-fu to find many many more. There is also an interesting comment in the New York Times, which suggests that legal advice given to the president before the execution was that it would be illegal.

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    Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire