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Republicans Want To Leave You Voicemail -- Without Ever Ringing Your Cellphone (recode.net)
bricko quotes a report from Recode: The GOP's leading campaign and fundraising arm, the Republican National Committee, has quietly thrown its support behind a proposal at the Federal Communications Commission that would pave the way for marketers to auto-dial consumers' cellphones and leave them prerecorded voicemail messages -- all without ever causing their devices to ring. Under current federal law, telemarketers and others, like political groups, aren't allowed to launch robocall campaigns targeting cellphones unless they first obtain a consumer's written consent. But businesses stress that it's a different story when it comes to "ringless voicemail" -- because it technically doesn't qualify as a phone call in the first place. In their eyes, that means they shouldn't need a customer or voter's permission if they want to auto-dial mobile voicemail inboxes in bulk pre-made messages about a political candidate, product or cause. And they want the FCC to rule, once and for all, that they're in the clear. Their argument, however, has drawn immense opposition from consumer advocates.
to document every politician who does this, how often, and about what. It will offer no commentary on whether it is good or bad, whether the politician should be thrown out of office or given a medal. Just that they did it, how often, and about what.
Who is willing to help me post bail when I'm arrested for it?
I have to hand it to the Republicans - I thought they couldn't come up with any measures that would be any lower or more despised than they already have. I clearly underestimated them, because who would have thought they'd side with telemarketers, of all people?
We haven't reached critical mass yet, but once enough people only use cell phones for communication the floodgates will be opened.
Cellphones were on par with landlines in 2014. I'm sure they're a healthy majority now.
Either way, I can think of few things more obnoxious than prerecorded voicemails. It's bad enough I don't even know why marketers would want to do so in the first place, I'm not sure what marketing course teaches to you associate your client with feelings of incandescent rage.
I stole this Sig
This would allow anyone to flood Congresscritter's voicemails silently as well; all you need is to get their number and be on the same provider. No hangups, just long missives they would have to go through until they block your number. They would no doubt spoof, use various numbers, or use unavailable as their number Seriously though, how is this a free speech first amendment issue? I have no obligation to provide them with a platform for their speech, and my phone is private property where the first doesn't apply. What is needed is an app that can read VM and auto delete robo calls. Fight stupidity with technology, because fixing stupid is a no win battle.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Kill anyone who approves or promotes this. Kill them, and make it painful.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
yeah, I'm all over the conservative/liberal spectrum depending on the issue, but I am getting tired of the GOP's "no matter what happens, party first, everything our guys do is great and we all support it" and the weird adherence they have to lower taxes will lead to more jobs and then higher tax revenues and you don't really need privacy and by that we mean everything you do should be tracked and monetized.
No, that link you posted to a web comic we've all seen a hundred times is not "obligatory."
Reagan at least was a Democrat for quite a while. Back in the early 1970's, he said that he didn't leave the Democrat party; the Democrat party left him. And if you read the party platforms and public statements of most Dems in the 1950s through the mid-70's, they sound VERY Republican.
Today's Democrats used to be called "Communists", and today's Republicans used to be solidly Democrat. Last century's Republicans are now Libertarians, or Anarchists.
VoiceMail is useless anyways. If someone really needs to get hold of you, they will call again.
While probably true, it's also true that if someone really needs to get hold of you, they will leave a voicemail. This makes ignoring all calls and only checking voicemail a good way to screen out pointless time-wasting calls. If it's important there will be a voicemail, if there's no voicemail it obviously wasn't that important (or they messages you another way instead).
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
And I find it degrading to be expected to drop everything else I'm juggling and give my undivided attention to a task I don't yet know warrants that treatment. So please go ahead and send a text or email, or leave a short voicemail, saying what it is you want to talk about -- you don't have to talk at length to the machine, just give me an informative subject line basically -- and I will try to find the time to give you that undivided attention at the appropriate level priority. But I can't afford to let just everyone force their conversation to the top of my never-empty queue of things I'm always having to spend my time on. It's my precious limited time and I'll decide how much to spend on what and when... and mystery conversations about I-know-not-what-yet can stay perpetually at the bottom of that list.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
Please. From over here in Europe, what your political system looks like is one religious nutjob party that hates everything non-white and one non-religious nutjob party that hates everything white.
I can't really see anything resembling a political platform in either of them. Mostly because they have pretty much identical stances on everything but religion and whether or not white males are the devil.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
In this case, I believe the 3 AM Vuvuzela Orchestra in D-minor outside their bedroom window is more appropriate.
Surely A-major would be better. Politicians being older have poorer hearing in the higher frequencies.
Personally I'd prefer the 1812 Overture be played outside their homes... preferably with a full cannon fusillade of live ammo.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Is it also commercial advertising, or just political ads?
There's a difference nowadays?
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.