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No, Your Phone Didn't Ring. So Why Voice Mail From a Telemarketer? (lifehacker.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the stealthy-marketing dept.

Slashdot reader midwestsilentone tipped us off to a growing problem. Lifehacker reports: New technology allows telemarketers to leave ringless voicemail messages, and it's a method that's gaining traction. While there are laws to regulate businesses when they call consumers, some groups argue that ringless voicemail shouldn't count. The New York Times reports,"ringless voicemail providers and pro-business groups...argue that these messages should not qualify as calls and, therefore, should be exempt from consumer protection laws that ban similar types of telephone marketing"... After receiving a petition from a ringless voicemail provider, the Federal Trade Commission has started to collect public comments on this issue. So what can you do about it? First, you can head here to leave your public comment and if you're getting these voicemails, you can file a complaint with the FCC here.
Presumably that only applies if you're in the U.S. But I'd be curious to hear how many Slashdot readers have experienced this.

4 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. I should have the right to call-spam back by Sebby · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If they have the right to fill up my voicemail with message I don't want, I should have the same right to continually call them, tying up their phone line. Sounds fair, right?

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  2. Don't have voice mail. Ha ha! by Spazmania · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I had my cell phone carrier remove the voice mail feature from my phone. Take that suckers!

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  3. Out of service SIT tone by innocent_white_lamb · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I recorded the out of service SIT tone (the three rising beeps that you hear when you dial an out of service phone number) as the first thing on my outbound voicemail message. So my outbound message is "beep beep beep Hello this is me etc. etc.")

    Most robodialers are programmed to hang up and remove the number from their dialing lists when they hear those three beeps.

    Real people can still leave you a message, but it works amazingly well to keep spammers off of your voicemail.

    You can download the sit tone from several places; just run the phrase "sit tone" through google and you'll find it.

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    1. Re:Out of service SIT tone by Nethead · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You too! I did that back in '85 with a Code-a-Phone. Mostly because I was using the TelTone chip to detect SIT for the telemarketing machines we were making. (Wygant Scientific) Our first systems were using a hacked version of Commodore BASIC on a 65C02P4. TelTone had a nice set of chips that would detect call progress tones (ring, busy, etc.), DTMF and SIT. Lots of fun to play with.

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