yay. The otherday I got one on my cell phone though. First time ever for that, I told the lady this was a cell phone and she immediately hung up. So I'm not sure if she is just a bitch or if there is some law preventing her from calling a cell

Dinnertime with the family has never been the same. Thankfully.

I got a call the other day, one of those awful automated ones where they tell you to hold (the gall!). I held on, feigned interest, got the reps name, the company name. When I mentioned the Do Not Call registry, they hung up on me. I lodged a complaint on the donotcall.gov website. I felt like a crimebuster or something, what a dork I am.

I worked at an outbound call center before the DNC list is taken incredibly serious as the violations are $1000 plus, huge enough 1 bad call rep can turn a business so far into the red they will close that branch.

Ironically it's totally the opposite of how the FCRA is treated by collection agencies. Sounds like the FCRA needs to be publicly taught far more and on how to punish violators.

OMFG, the president actually did something I like?!? Hooray!

In all seriousness, this is great. I love the DNC list very, very much. I'm glad to see that it's permanent now.

@FitJulie: lol I was the same way, only, wow, the democrats found one thing that makes sense and is a plausible thing to do.

Now, do we have such a thing in canada? I want to be on it. RIGHT NOW. I'm sick of telemarketers.

Sometimes, the cold black dead hand of evil right-wing oppression stops and scratches us behind our collective ears.

And we purr, like a white persian cat.

But what if I only wanted my number to be off of the list for 5 years... Now I'm screwed. Thanks a lot Uncle Sam!

With all due respect, this law has ripped the heart out of some rural economies. I have call waiting, like every other civilized human being on the planet, and have no sympathy for anyone who doesn't. This is like Congressional hearings on steroids, ie the Federal Government appealing to cranky old people by acting like a cranky old person itself. Next up, free Lipitor with your tax forms?

I'm just glad that we Americans can come together and all agree we hate telemarketers. *plays athem*

@Bladefist: I believe that telemarketing laws make it illegal for them to call you on a cell phone. On a land line they incur the full cost of the call, but on a cell phone they're most likely costing you money in the form of minutes or other potential charges (roaming fees, etc) which is a big no-no.

With all due respect, this law has ripped the heart out of some rural economies.

With all due respect, from an evolutionary standpoint, a telemarketing-based economy is a seven-legged fluorescent asexual dodo that should be encouraged to thrive.

If your economy is based on unethical or illegal behavior, it might be wise to try a different economy.

I have call waiting, like every other civilized human being on the planet, and have no sympathy for anyone who doesn't.

@weazel: I have no sympathy for businesses who feel like they should be able to harass people with repeated phone calls. They wouldn't have even made this list if these companies would have just stopped calling when people asked them to.

@Bladefist: I think there's a law.

@weazel: Did you mean call waiting or caller id?

If you meant call waiting, then... what the hell are you talking about?

@Bladefist: Aww, I feel so bipartisan. It's very warm, and also fuzzy.

@apotheosis:

..."should NOT"...

*sigh*

@weazel:

What do your four seemingly unrelated sentences have to do with each other?

What we need now is a law that stops the phone companies from selling or distributing that information in the first place, unless you specifically opt-in (such as for a directory listing).

@IphtashuFitz: That's true, it is illegal for a company to make an autodialed telemarketing call to your cell phone. However, when this happens there's really not much you can do about it. I've gotten a few calls in the past (probably not more than once a month), and have tried recording the number and reporting to the ftc [www.ftc.gov], but they aren't much help. Their response was something like they didn't usually get involved in private disputes.

I hope they join their fellow encyclopedia and vacuum cleaner salemen sooner than later.

Can anyone tell me how/if anyone makes money telemarketing? I mean it looks as if anyone on this board even answers calls from numbers they do not know. Most people I know do not answer calls from people they know. The rest of the population all seem to just hang up or get pissed at a telemarketer. Even if they are paying there agents shit wages, and operate out of some rual area where a lease is going to be cheap, how can they make any money doing this. If anyone has any data on this I would like to see it.

All clear now for the war on spam!

the calls i've gotten lately are from extremely shady places out of the country. they do not give ONE shit, about our do not call list. i'm on the federal and the state dnc. and its my freakin cell, which the federal website said is already proctected and i wouldn't need to register (but i did anyway to be extra sure). there is no real number on my caller id. just 4-5 odd digits that won't let you return the call. the place is called matrix media, and there are like 3 billion matrix media's on the internet, all of them, different companies.

@floyderdc: i use to make money telemarketing- if you care.... and the company i worked for is still in business, and they do make money. it's really easy to make money at it (as a company and an employee).

@weazel: If an economy is based on harassing people with unwanted phone calls...time to find something else to do.

I'm glad to see this extended! Before the DNC list, I was getting calls all the time, including 8am on Saturdays.

Apo:

With all due respect, I humbly submit that a government that does everything old people want but sand thier bunions is not going to be respected as a going concern by other governments that pride themselves on sticking to their fundamental principles.

This Administration and the Congress that passed the law were based on non-interference with legitimate business and the adaptation of new technologies like caller ID (I meant, he said). The Republicans, in passing this law, put up a neon billboard that they care only about public relations, not principles. This law sticks out like a shiny smelly carbunkle on their laissez-faire facade. A federal government that is based on hands-off principles should let private enterprise and technology handle the micromanaged details of daily hassles.

@Bladefist: [www.ftc.gov]

@weazel: I have 3-way calling, and I have no sympathy for anyone who doesn't. NO SYMPATHY!!!!!

BTW, care to substantiate the "ripped the heart out of some rural economies" claim? Plus, assuming you're actually right, that rural economies were dependent on telemarketers' ability to make unsolicited calls to an unwilling audience suggests those economies were pretty fucked to begin with.

@weazel:
I humbly submit that a government that does everything old people want but sand thier bunions is not going to be respected as a going concern by other governments that pride themselves on sticking to their fundamental principles.

Well first, it's fundamentally unfair to characterize this measure as being attended to appease "old people." While "old people" might be the prime movers in the electorate for this measure, the same could be said of anything other measure. They comprise the largest voting block, because they vote.

That being said, if you've any evidence that younger people hate telemarketers LESS than older people, I'd be happy to look it over.

I humbly request a comment edit feature, since I'm apparently determined to hit "submit" before reading through every post.

YEAH!!!

Wish they would let businesses get on the list. We are getting TONS of telemarketers calling our 1-800 number doing surveys. (which just give telemarketers inside information)

I have a strict policy, if they call me, selling office, safety, light bulbs, or packaging I just tell them we do NOT do business with telemarketers.

Well, I have NO SYMPATHY for anyone who doesn't have "Verizon Speed Calling 8."

Sp:

I totes agree that telemarketing is a crappy base for an economy, but it beats wildcat mining. My "ripped the heart out" comes from various press accounts. Of course, the billion or so dollars being piled into the 2008 campaigns probably goes a long way towards ameliorating the hurt.

It's just that this is the kind of law that liberal democrats pass, and puts the big lie to Bush being a real Republican, along with his WTO steel thing a couple of years ago, and his putting the deficit on steroids.

BTW I'm totally not a spammer nor do I work for a lobbyist, although, of course, I'd like to.

@weazel: So, essentially, you're saying that poor people should continue to receive telemarketing calls while rich people purchase technology that might block the calls. Weazel for the lose!

@weazel: "The Republicans, in passing this law, put up a neon billboard that they care only about public relations, not principles."

Well, that should've been obvious to anyone who's been paying attention since the 1960s. From Nixon's Southern Strategy on, the GOP has *always* placed pandering over policies or principles.

By the way, the FTC has great information for handling/avoiding telemarketing scams at your office.

[www.ftc.gov]

Hope it helps!

@spinachdip:
the GOP has *always* placed pandering over policies or principles.

You're not really suggesting that behavior is peculiar to Republicans, are you?

Really?

1) Screw rural anything. It's those people who voted for Bush that put us in a lot of the messes we have now.

2) This may be bs but one of my college friends worked for a telemarkating firm for a while and he said that if you have a cell phone centric area code (917 for instance) they will never add you to their lists as they are too worried about being sued.

@weazel: Gonna have to disagree with you this time. The right to be left alone in the privacy one's own home sounds more libertarian/consitutionalist than liberal democrat to me. And it sounds pretty good to me.

As for your rural communities getting their economic heart ripped out: Get a job.

Seriously, I'm a pretty good consumer, but having people spend that much time and effort trying to get me to buy stuff I don't want, won't use and can't afford is just a waste of time and resources.

@weazel: At what point do repeated calls (despite repeated requests to not call again) become harassment? Should the telemarketers be allowed to call every day for months despite being told on no uncertain terms never to call that person again?

If these telemarketers are blatantly and purposefully ignoring customers' wishes not to be badgered, it needs to become legally enforceable at some point, not just left to "private enterprise and technology."

@weazel: I am 22, hardly an "old person" by anyone's standards. Why should I have to deal with telemarketers? I am also too poor (graduate student) to afford either call waiting or caller ID. Should I have to deal with telemarketers because of that too?

@weazel:

Laissez-faire is wonderful when the businesses are responsible, but the telemarketing industry steadfastly refused to police itself, inviting government oversight and control. They had decades to fix themselves and steadfastly did nothing of note.

My sense is that they thought they were powerful enough to avoid it. They were wrong.

Now the telemarketing industry has more regulation than they would have liked. They should have thought their cunning plan all the way through.

@weazel: So, you're upset that the do-not-call list is not Libertarian? I think the best thing the do-not-call legislation did was require telemarketers to advertise their number via the caller ID service you love so much, think should be required and (if you have a wireline phone) probably pay about $9/month for in total (unless you're old-school and just get the number.)

I had my old number on the list, and it was useful. When I moved last year I went voip/mobile only and between the filtering on my voip service and the unlisted nature of my numbers I haven't had a problem.

You'll have to provide some evidence for the destruction of rural economies by making telemarketers behave in a civilized fashion, or no one is going to take any part of your rant seriously.

Now, if only the #$%$#% politicians would quit exempting themselves and charities....

@lascauxcaveman:
Sometimes jobs just aren't available in rural areas. I hate the get a real job comments. While I moved out of a rual area as soon as I could not everybody can do it.

Telemarketers stopped calling me a long time ago. I got my name put on another list! My brother forwarded a "telemarketing script" to me a while back and the next telemarketing call I got, I put it to the test. It works incredibly well!

[www.xs4all.nl]

Where is the telemarketer's trade association and lobby while this is being voice voted on? Christ, are they so evil that not even Congressmen will take their money... in an ELECTION YEAR?

This is a bigger wow than someone being told to skip some meals b/c we're out of chix soup.

@rmz:
If these telemarketers are blatantly and purposefully ignoring customers' wishes not to be badgered, it needs to become legally enforceable at some point, not just left to "private enterprise and technology."

...unless the laws are changed, allowing us to legally hire mercenaries to pursue the telemarketers.

Private enterprise and technology intervene against same. No government intervention required. Satisfaction guaranteed.

I can get behind that. Who's with me?

@weazel: Not even the most cynical of W's neocon puppeteers (Rove, Cheney et al) ever through W was a genuine conservative. I'm sure many of the people duped into voting for him by the Smear McCain crowd and the Swift Boat Liars for Sleazy Government believed it, at least for a few days, but even the dumbest voter should have seen the handwriting on the wall, done in liquefied US currency, that W is a borrow-and-spend monkey in a politician suit.

I keep telling ya, keep a police whistle by the phone!

Man, I wish I were someone who liked abuse. Maybe I am. Modern politics just seems so whimsical to me. Find one easily-encapsulated, narrow-spectrum issue (illegal aliens, telemarketers, steroids) and just pile on it, forget looking at real social trends or anything macro. And people who applaud this law are enabling that kind of whimsical crankiness. I will now return to Wonkette, where there are Muppets today. Mad love to y'all.

@