werner@ut-ngp.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (11/15/85)
>>I think what this whole thing comes down to is a way to allow people to >>look up your phone number if they forget it without having to put up >>with junk phone calls. It is easy to put up a sign in front of your >>house saying no salespeople, but how do you do the same thing with the >>phone. ... > >I think you've got the answer here. The phone company, and other directory >publishers, should have a service where a special character is placed by >your entry in the directories (especially the reverse directories). Said >character to be the equivalent of a "No Solicitors" sign on your door. >Anyone (or anything (-: ) calling such a marked number for purposes of >delivering a sales pitch would be subject to prosecution just as obscene >phone callers are now. Nope, this won't work well. Solicitors don't usually look you up in the phone-book, but use lists developed by marketing companies. And computers dialing you up .... Now, a/the solution would be if solicitors' calls were blocked electronically by the phone-company. This is how it could work: Every caller *HAS TO* dial an additional code to indicate if this is a "soliciting call" or not. I get to tell the phone-company (computer) that I don't want to receive such calls, and the calling solicitor gets a special tone (or recording) telling him that he is not welcome. And I get to sleep some more .....
hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) (11/15/85)
In article <2611@ut-ngp.UUCP> werner@ut-ngp.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) writes: >>> ...It is easy to put up a sign in front of your >>>house saying no salespeople, but how do you do the same thing with the >>>phone. ... >> >> ... The phone company, and other directory >>publishers, should have a service where a special character is placed by >>your entry in the directories (especially the reverse directories). Said >>character to be the equivalent of a "No Solicitors" sign on your door. > >Nope, this won't work well. Solicitors don't usually look you up in the >phone-book, but use lists developed by marketing companies. And computers >dialing you up .... Shouldn't make any difference. It's the responsibility of the solicitor to check whether you want to receive such calls or not. How they do it is their problem. Just having to do it should put a dent in the industry. -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe) Citicorp(+)TTI The more I work with C, the more I 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. appreciate the simple elegance of Santa Monica, CA 90405 FORTRAN. (213) 450-9111, ext. 2483 {philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe