Posted on 09/30/2003 11:22:10 PM PDT by kattracks
Fifty million Americans can't be wrong.
<!ENDSUMM!>The appeal of a do-not-call list aimed at commercial telemarketers is obviously enormous nationwide, just as it was when it went into effect here in Massachusetts. (Those who signed up for the Massachusetts list were automatically entered into the federal data base.)
It's hardly surprising that the industry is challenging the new law at every opportunity and using every legal remedy at its disposal.
Congress moved quickly in the the wake of one federal court decision, clarifying that yes indeed, the Federal Trade Commission has the authority to set up the list that could lead to fines for telemarketers.
President Bush signed that bill into law Monday saying, ``The public is understandably losing patience with these unwanted phone calls, unwanted intrusions. Given a choice, Americans prefer not to receive random sales pitches at all hours of the day. The American people should be free to restrict these calls.''
It does seem a fairly basic right - to be free from such intrusions. Ah, but one man's intrusion is obviously another's free speech. And so yet another federal court case looms over the broader issue of whether by choosing up sides - by exempting charities and political calls - the government has put its heavy thumb on the supposedly well-balanced scales of justice. That one could take some time to sort out.
But Yale Law School professor Ian Ayres, writing in yesterday's New York Times, proposed an intriguing market-based solution, allowing the government to use an intermediary - such as phone companies - to offer families the telephone ``filter'' of their choice. Some could opt to allow charity calls through, others pollsters, and still others could make commercial telemarketers pay for their time with a kind of reverse 900-number.
Clearly consumers are mostly just furious at these intrusions and at the telemarketing industry for defending them. If the law is not allowed to stand, hanging up may prove to be the best revenge.
The telemarketer is just some schmuck trying to earn a living. Try instead the seven magic words "Please take my name off your list."
Much more effective method than this. It is called an air horn. A couple of good blasts in the mouth piece and mysteriously the telemarketer is no longer on the line.
After that I go into my best Bevis & Butthead voice and ask the perky little sales girl what she's wearing...........Only time I ever felt really bad afterwards was when a (supposedly) blind guy from lighthouse for the blind tried to sell me lightbulbs and I demanded to know how he knew if they worked ?
Stay Safe and keep calling and mailing mailing all these judges who say it's unconstitutional to stop telemarketers..................:o)
Sorry, definitely not kosher. I hate the intrusions as much as anyone; but there are easier and yes, polite ways of handling these calls.
Rudeness to me is kind of like a poison; and you cannot use it, without getting some on your own hands.
Yes it is. First, it's not YOUR phone line. You didn't dig the ground up and create a giant network to give billions the ability to connect via the telephone.
Second, read the agreement you signed when you got your phone connected. Most people don't. In it you'll find the owner of the connection and your unique number belongs to them and they can do anything they want with it including publishing your name, address and telephone number in a giant book called the White Pages unless you buy an unlisted number.
I have been doing that for over a year. They used be polite, say, of course, verify my number and give me a number to call if I wanted back on their list.
Now I get short, a snide "Okay" and even hang ups.
I have done this a couple of times. Once, when I was home alone and feeling lonely, I negotiated with Dish Network sales guys for over an hour. They kept transferring me up the line trying to find someone or someway to meet my demands. I finally ended the conversation by asking for the number of Direct TV.
Read the contract you signed to have the phone service turned on that you do not own. YOU pay for access to THEIR lines. Thirty years ago it was illegal to even own your own equipment and had to lease it from the phone company.
YOU also pay your cable bill each month but don't have a right to a "Do Not Advertise" list if you don't like to see "Girls Gone Wild" informercials at 2 am. Sure, you can just turn off the TV...so, just turn off the telephone.
Just because YOU decided you want a phone service for friends, family and emergencies doesn't take the rights of the phone company away. They own your number and can sell it to anyone they want. They usually give it away in White Pages that are even now on the internet. Give me your real name and city and I bet I can find your phone number online.
Am I violating your privacy or using my free speech rights if I decide to call and ask if you want to be my pen pal? You can block unwanted calls with a cheap device. You can get caller ID to identify when family calls. You can get a 2nd line that's unlisted and give it out to friends and family only. You can, and probably have, a cell phone that telemarketers don't call that your friends and family can use.
Do you use a dial up modem? Do you have two phone lines? If not, then do you demand the federal government force the phone companies to create a way your friends, relatives and emergency calls can get through while you are on the internet? The private sector has those solutions already.
If you think it's a privacy issue you have to recognize it's your private duty to stop the calls you don't like on your own.
I never answer my phone unless I know who it is, and that I want to speak with them. Anyone else can leave a message.
I've tried it. It doesn't work.
Hey, make it more interesting. Try asking them if they're wearing boxers or jockeys? If it's female, ask her the color of her underwear.
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