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FCC May Permit Robocalls To Cell Phones -- If They Are Calling a Wrong Number
An anonymous reader writes There have been plenty of false rumors about cell phones being
opened up to telemarketers, but now the FCC is actually
considering it. From the article: "Consumers have long had the support of government to try to
control these calls, chiefly through the Telephone Consumer
Protection Act, which actually allows consumers to file lawsuits and collect penalties
from companies that pepper them with robocalls or text messages
they didn't agree to receive. But now the Federal Communications Commission is considering
relaxing a key rule and allowing businesses to call or text your
cellphones without authorization if they say they called a wrong
number. The banking industry and collections industry are pushing
for the change." In one
case recently, AT&T called one person 53 times after he
told them they had a wrong number...and ended up paying $45 million
to settle the case. Around 40 million phone numbers are "recycled" each year in the
U.S. Twice, I've had to dump a number and get a new one because
I was getting so many debt collection calls looking for someone
else. Apparently the FCC commissioners may not be aware of the
magnitude of the "wrong number" debt collection calls and aren't
aware that lots of people still have per-minute phone plans.
Anyone can file
comments on this proposal with the FCC.
I have no issue with them being able to call me without legal repercussions... once. After that, it's their job to update their robocall lists. I've informed them that they no longer have the correct number. Any further "mistakes" should be fully punishable.
I've already had cold sales calls (from a person, not a robocall) where they ask for a non-existent person, I tell them they have a wrong number, and they launch into "oh, I'm sorry, but as long as I've got you on the phone, let me tell about the great deal we're offering on replacement windows..."
It's just that the pacing and tone of voice made it clear to me that the whole thing was scripted in advance to go that way, that the "oops, sorry, wrong number" was simply a lie told in the hopes that I would not report them for violating the do not call list.
The FCC complaint office is useless. I've submitted multiple complaints for robo calls and have never heard back from them.
- "Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen. But Old Man Stauf is waiting there, crazy sick and mean!"
Why are *any* robocalls allowed? In most (perhaps all) places they fit the definition of criminal harassment, and a computer certainly has no free speech rights.
Maybe it's time they fixed the phone system so that telemarketing scammers from Pakistan and India can't hide behind a North American phone number.
Maybe it's time they fixed the phone system so that telemarketing scammers in North America have to show their real number.
Maybe it's time to shut down all number spoofing systems.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
.
What is so difficult about the FCC understanding that I do not want calls on my mobile from robocallers and/or telemarketers.
I don't answer calls from numbers I don't recognize anyway, and I recommend everyone else do the same.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Maybe it's time for phone companies to allow white lists for who can call a number.
on their cell. See if they still wanna go through with this.
I'm afraid most of the voters don't share those sentiments. Nothing matters but cheap gas prices.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
http://www.fcc.gov/contact-us
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
I mean, in Europe you don't pay if someone else calls you. So there is a common trick if some salesperson calls you "oh, one moment please", put the phone somewhere and check 30 minutes later if they are still on the line (usually not). Costs them money and time, not you.
And on mobile phones you have programs to block numbers from phoning and smsing. Much easier than regulations.
Unfortunately, that doesn't hamper telemarketers outside North America who spoof numbers. One number gets nailed, they spoof another one. The telcos could fix this if they really wanted to, but they make money off it.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/PRO-Call-Blocker-Incoming-Telephone/dp/B00AZ43MGU/ref=pd_sim_e_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1J6JDGKBWXFNN580TVKM
This device appears to use a blacklist only, not a whitelist. According to the reviews, quite a few people are unhappy with it. Most junk calls seem to come from random numbers, so a blacklist is not an effective way to stop them. Blocking all non-caller-id is not effective either because many junk calls spoof CID, while many of my friends and relatives don't use CID out of privacy concerns.
My phone only rings if the caller is listed in my address book with a custom ringtone. My default ringtone is silent. Everyone I know knows that if they call me from an unrecognized number I won't answer it, and all they have to do is leave me a voicemail. I also have premium txt messages turned off on my account.
Another loophole they use is, if you're on the do not disturb list, they're still allowed to call you if they're calling with a survey. The law didn't want to block research, so by adding a survey to your call it becomes legal, which means that a ton of companies do fake surveys which they throw away, just so they can call you without falling afoul of the law. Then, during the call, they ask if it would be alright to call you again. Since you just answered a nice little survey, you say sure. Now you've given your legal consent for them to call you back, and they will. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
That doesn't help much when the caller is in another jurisdiction such as India.
It also doesn't help when some scummy debt collector has randomly associated your number with an alleged debtor that you don't know. They call relentlessly and refuse to accept that you don't even know the person. They claim do-not-call doesn't apply because they have a 'business relationship' with the debtor. They claim you can't order them to stop calling because you said you weren't the debtor. They are the biggest assholes you will ever have the mis-fortune to communicate with.
They will happily run up huge cellphone bills for completely innocent 3rd parties if they are allowed to "wrong number" dial your cellphone over and over.
Back in the ol' Landline days, I ran a SIP gateway that went to an asterisk system. It would always ask you to press 1 if you weren't a telemarketer and 2 if you were. Option 2 would politely tell you to fuck off. I never got a telemarketing call after that. I'm guessing the VRU confused most of the robo-calling software they used. After a while I got fancy with it and installed SIP software on the cellphone I was using at the time. So if my phone connected up with the wireless network, it would register with the asterisk server and the asterisk server would ring the phone. If the phone was not available because I was away from the house, calls would go straight to voicemail. If you were on a whitelist, the asterisk system would ask you to hold on and then dial out over VOIP and connect the call to my cell phone. The software on my phone now works pretty well but I miss the power I had with Asterisk.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I live in the U.S. Here, for some godawful reason, cellular customers pay to receive the call.
I seriously had no idea that was going on it the US. The idea that the recipient should pay for a communication initiated by someone else is ludicrous and any attempt by any organisation that allows others to involuntarily force costs upon you is horrendous. I would not touch a mobile phone upon that basis or at the very least turn off network connection when I am specifically not using the phone to initiate calls. So I gather that in the US there is an Android app that blocks all incoming calls and texts that are not on a user defined white list, you do not want the call so why the hell should you pay for it. Seriously there just has to be, else you guys are really suckers and what the FCC is intending, is plainly a criminal conspiracy with corporations to rip off the public. I'll bet the corporate discounts for their calls means they pay less when initiating a call than you in the US do when receiving it, damn.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Mine is whitelist capable, but that's too restrictive for me. I don't know what number my pharmacy will be calling from to confirm a prescription and I don't want to maintain that growing list of numbers. During the last election cycle I got 1-2 calls a night for about 2 days. By then all the major call centers had been blocked and I stopped getting harassed by pollsters and politicians. I even have a few entire prefixes blocked out due to high spam calls coming from that area code. My only complaint is that it is too easy to accidentally add a good number to the blacklist. I've added myself a couple of times. Easy enough to fix, though.