LIBJCW@suvm.acs.syr.edu (John C. Wyman) (11/24/87)
Hello - We have had several messages about Telephone Privacy. There is a developing service using the phone system which intensely annoys me and which I consider an intrusion into my privacy. That is, the use of computers to dial possible customers on a series of phone numbers. The problems with this service are two. First I get enough junk mail and phone sales efforts and I don't need computer generated junk phone calls. And secondly I cannot hang up on the call. My line is kept tied up until that "blasted" computer completes its speel. This is a hazard to me or my family if we needed the phone for an emergency call. Questions to our readers - What can I do to hang up on such a call? And what can I do to stop such calls from being generated? Are there responsible (and responsive) agencies that will help? Etc. Are there other questions or problems that I've overlooked in this issue? Thanks. John C. Wyman
taylor@hplabsz.UUCP (11/24/87)
>...the use of computers to dial ... a series of phone numbers. >Questions to our readers - What can I do to hang up on such a call? >And what can I do to stop such calls from being generated? Are there >responsible (and responsive) agencies that will help? Etc. Although this depends on the exchange, it is usually possible to hang up on these calls by hanging up for 20 or 30 seconds. In many areas, the connection will not be broken for this amount of time if the called party hangs up; this is to allow the callee to change phones. On the second matter, in my bill this month from New England Telephone, I received a card to fill out if I did not want to receive computerized phone calls. A new law in Massachusetts requires the phone company to maintain this list free of charge to consumers, and requires all computer callers in the state to acquire this list and to remove the people on it from their computerized calling programs. This will not prevent us from receiving computerized calls originating outside Massachusetts, nor will it help anyone living outside the state. Perhaps other states will follow suit. David Albert
taylor@hplabsz.UUCP (11/28/87)
Perhaps, fighting fire with fire WILL get results in this instance. Suppose that you are annoyed by a computer generated phone sales. Take down the phone number (assuming that there is one in the ad spiel) or look up the number of the company doing the advertisement. Set your favorite modem interface to continuously dial any and all numbers to that company. If you have a voice chip (or something comparable) have it generate a little message to tie up their phone lines. Better yet, if you can find the number for the president of the company, have your system continuously dial his home phone. Actually, I have no idea of the legality of this retort. Nor, do I specifically recommend it. There is food for thought here, though. Joel Rives
collier@charon.unm.edu (Uncia Uncia) (12/06/87)
Joel Rives writes: > ...If you have a voice chip (or something comparable) have it generate > a little message to tie up their phone lines. Better yet, if you can > find the number for the president of the company, have your system > continuously dial his home phone. I saw a 60 minutes segment or something of that nature on a fellow who resented Jerry Falwell with such vehemence that he fired up his PC and tied up Falwell's toll free donation lines for about 15 days straight. Falwell's phone bill totalled 7 figures. The phone company finally caught the culprit. Falwell was going to sue him, of course, but the phone company was also going to prosecute criminally. The laws may vary from state to state, but I suspect that in most places it wouldn't be very healthy to be caught doing this sort of thing. BTW, this particular fellow didn't seem very apologetic, and was willing to go to jail or whatever for the privilege of harrassing Falwell. I guess if you are angry enough it won't matter what they can do to you afterwards. Michael Collier
justin@inmet (Justin Du Coeur) (12/06/87)
John C. Wyman writes about computer phone calls, and asks what can be done to prevent such a thing happening in the future... The thing for you to do is to press for some legislation. Massachusetts is currently implementing a scheme to deal with exactly this. Last month, all (I think) homes were sent a card by New England Telephone. If you sign and return the card, this theoretically protects you from computer junk calls. Basically, all firms using computer-generated calls are now required by law to register with New England Tele., who will supply them with a list of phone numbers that they are not allowed to call. Frankly, I think that the cost of maintaining this list on-line, and checking every prospective number against it, is going to drive a lot of the computer junk callers out of the Mass. market. Good riddance. -- Justin du Coeur
haas%gr@cs.utah.edu (Walt Haas) (12/06/87)
Joel Rives writes: > Perhaps, fighting fire with fire WILL get results in this instance. > Suppose that you are annoyed by a computer generated phone sales.... Well I was, and after some discussion on misc.consumers a couple of years ago I adopted the policy that when I get an advertising call, I simply put the receiver down next to the phone and go back to what I was doing. The other day I did this, and when I noticed that the caller had finally hung up I hung up too. The phone rang. It was the same lady, and she told me that she thought I was awfully rude to put her on hold! I said it seemed fair to me, since she was interrupting my work and wasting my time, so why shouldn't I have the right to do the same to her? She replied in a distraught-sounding voice that she was being monitored for productivity, and might lose her job as a result. I encouraged her to hang up quickly when she was put on hold, but to no avail. Then we started to discuss how they get the numbers to call. She said that Mountain Bell sells lists of residential phone numbers, which are loaded into her computer and dialed by the machine. This list includes unlisted residential numbers, but not business phones. She spent about half an hour trying to convince me that telephone solicitors perform a valuable public service. I wonder what her productivity monitors thought of that? Cheers -- Walt