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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.
People want to leave politicians and marketers a big turd on their front door - without ever ringing their doorbell.
#DeleteFacebook
...and AT&T can charge $20/month to automatically remove it!
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?
Let them.
The backlash to ghost Republican voicemail spam will be so severe Reagan, Nixon, and Lincoln will all posthumously switch to the Democratic Party.
*#61# (call) - Shows if Voice Mail (voice forwarding) is enabled and your Voice Mail number.
#004# (call) - Disable all Voice Mail forwards.
If your network is non-standard (or your network operator is a prick) those don't work, call customer support and ask them to disable Voice Mail completely and remove your Voice Mail mailbox from the HLR.
VoiceMail is useless anyways. If someone really needs to get hold of you, they will call again.
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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
And they send you SMS messages. The best way to describe it is *FUCKING ANNOYING*. You listen to you messages and then you hear some shit "Did you know that such and such is a dick and therefore has no business in politics: Vote Asshole - We're full of shit".
I did the best I could to familiarize myself with the VM controls so I could delete those messages immediately without listening to them. The worst this is you can't leave a message for them telling them to fuck off.
Yeah, it's *that* annoying.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
so I'm gonna say this: Why is it whenever something awful comes up it's always the Republicans front and center. Yeah, yeah, there's some blue dog Dems that'll vote for it, but none of them woulda had the gall (and the balls) to actually put a bill on the floor.
What I'm saying is this: both sides aren't the same. One is objectively worse. And every year we fail to call them on it they get a little bit worse as they realize they can get away with everything while people shout: "But both sides are bad!".
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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.
is to be able to have your phone answer its own calls. If voice mail can be reached without dialing a phone, I can assure you their Muslim Soviet witch hunt (which is just an excuse) team is working on a way to also answer calls for you too via a similar protocol. It can already be done, but I mean in a legal and easier way. To give you an example, they only made it legal for ISP's to sell your web data so that they can buy it off them rather than go through a court system.
The typical way companies do this is to issue two call simultaneously, and disconnect whichever call connects to the switch first (under a second). The telco will roue the remaining call to voicemail, and this usually happens before the call notification worms its way through the cellular network to the handset.
The student loan scammers are already doing this. One company was calling-not-calling my phone five times an hour? Not a distraction? It certainly is! My phone still goes vrrt-vrrt, and I still look up from what I'm doing.
It's an utter waste of the recipient's time and fails the "What if some large number of people did this?" test.
Pining for the days when The Glorious MEEPT!!! graced SlapDash with his wisdom.
There's a reason I'm on the do not call list, to get rid of that kind of B.S. in the first place.
As to landlines, I only know 4 people that have one, everyone else just has cellphones.
Politicians are minimally responsive to the general concerns of the population. Seems counterintuitive. But they're able to do this because of:
1) Gerrymandered districts.
2) Heavy special interest dollars.
I mean, even when times are rough, incumbency rates are very high.
What we also need are term limits. Yes, they have costs and benefits. But they approved term limits for the president, one of 537 federal politicians (100 senators + 435 representatives + president + vice president). The reason was to prevent an imperial presidency. We should implement the same thing for the other 535 federal politicians for the same reason - to prevent an imperial Congress.
I don't see how politicians would ever be persuaded to limit their power however. The 535 limiting the power of the one (president) - certainly. The 535 limiting their own power - I don't see how it could be done voluntarily.
Once you give politicians more power, it is extraordinarily difficult to take it away.
We need politicians that are less development officers (fundraisers) and more focused on policy and governing.
If the price is right, they'll even swallow. Like any whore.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
But I do have one quick question: Is it illegal futt-buck a duly elected representative or appointed official until their eyeballs bleed?
Depends mostly on the size of your campaign contribution.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
What I don't get is... why the fuck they think somehow I'd listen to such a voicemail.
"Huh. I have a voicemail... that's odd, I don't have any missed calls..."
"You have THREE new messages. First message. Hi, this is Ted Cruz, and I'm runni BEEEEP... message deleted. Next message." (moody, scary, minor-key music) "The President is taking Amer BEEEP... message deleted. Next message." (Soaring, upbeat music begi) "BEEEEP. message deleted. You have no more messages."
Politicians... you're wasting your fucking time.
I'm very happy with the outcome of the election too. I predicted that it would result in the Republicans self-destructing. Just look at how far they've gone so quickly. Trump has had a worse first 100 days than even the 9th president - and that guy died after a month. This fiasco will force both parties to change.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
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.
Yes Reagan claimed that exact quote but it was bullshit then as it is now. Basically his brand of politics was more conservative than the bulk of the democrats. Reagan's politics drifted right long before he ever switched parties. His claim is exactly backwards for the most part.
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.
That's because many of them were what we think of republicans to be today. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 caused a huge number of democrats (particularly in the south) to switch party affiliations over the next decade. The south used to vote solidly democrat up until 1964. It was Nixon in 1968 that appealed to scared white voters in the south and started the transition to the solidly republican south we see today.
Today's Democrats used to be called "Communists", and today's Republicans used to be solidly Democrat.
SOME of today's republicans used to be democrats. Most democrats were politically to the left of those individuals long before they switched parties, largely over what is clearly racial bias after 1964.
Greece is as similar to Germany as Hawaii is to Texas.
They're both broke but Texas is staying afloat by leeching Hawaii dry while pretending to "save" them?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.