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The Story of Lenny, the Internet's Favorite Telemarketing Troll (vice.com)
dmoberhaus writes: Here's a conversation with the developer who maintains the public server for Lenny, a robocalling algorithm that throws telemarketers through a loop. Lenny was created in 2009 and almost a decade later has developed a cult following online. Anyone can forward their telemarketing calls to Lenny, who is a kind and forgetful old man who is interested in whatever the telemarketer is selling. Some telemarketers stay on the line for up to an hour interacting with this chatbot, leading to hundreds of hours of hilarious recordings on YouTube. This is the story of Lenny's rise, and an analysis of its effectiveness at stopping unsolicited calls.
What telemarketers? I have had zero such calls on the mobile in 17 years. Do we have some kind of privacy protection in Europe?
Yes. First, most telemarketers are trying to get a CC#. European credit cards have chip+PIN, so the number alone is not enough to steal money like it is in America.
Second, most telemarketing calls originate in low wage countries such as India and the Philippines, and caller-id spoofing to make it look like a local call is much more restricted outside of America.
Third, in America the cell phone network is directly overlayed onto the landline system. There is no way to look at a number and know if it is a cell or a LL. In most other countries, cell phones use a different numbering system, and there are greater restrictions on auto-calls to cell phones.
Fourth, the political system in America does not respond to diffuse issues that are not geographically or ideologically important. So politicians focus on wedge issues like who uses which toilet, and ignore issues like massive telemarketing fraud and identity theft that affects millions of people regardless of their political affiliation. Fixing these problems is not even on the political radar.
Fifth, America speaks English. If you are going to set up a 3rd world call center, it is far easier to do so for English, which many people learn and there are hundreds of millions of people to call. Where in the 3rd world are you going to hire German, or Swedish, or Polish speakers?
Bottom line: American is a big lucrative market with many fraud-friendly laws and policies. Crooks go where the money is.