annoying phone calls
(sparked by a post in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
griffen's LJ)
The post was about political calls with weird numbers like 800-000-000
Anybody with a PBX, most types of call center gear and even some sorts of ISDN line equipment can set the caller ID info to anything they like.
There *are* legit uses for this.
I'm surprised that you got a number at all. Most of the ones I've been getting were "Out-of-area" (which means "no caller ID info received").
I've seen a few weirdies. Like a 703 area code number that gave an 866 areacode number as the *name* part of the Caller ID info. Or the 206 code call that gave "Out of Area" as the name (probably a programming error by whoever was trying to spoof things.
Me, I'd like to see the law set to require that *valid* caller ID be present on all "telemarketing" type calls, including surveys and political calls.
By valid I mean that the number that showed would be a legit number for the organization calling. And the name shown should be appropriate (ie either the company calling, or the company they are calling for.
Only exception would be for "local area only" calls in areas where the phone switches aren't set up for caller ID.
I'd also like to revive an old Oregon law that was thrown out (improperly, in my opinion) as violating free speech. It forbade "robot" calls. There had to be a human being, at least long enough to see if the called person wanted the call.
The argument (something about making it unreasonably hard for small businesses to do telemarketing) is pretty much null and void given things like the federal Do Not Call list, which the cheap machines can't be programmed to obey anyway (they just call *all* the numbers in an exchange).
I'd also forbid the practice of having the automated gear dial several numbers at once for a single staffer. The idea is that odds favor only one answering (if any do). My reason for outlawing it is that if more than one line answers, the machine *hangs up* on all but the first to answer, since it doesn't have a person to connect them to.
And I'd either make it illegal for calls to cell phones or any other phone where the called party has to pay for the call. Or require the phone companies to find a way to charge the caller the per minute charges.
If we did this at the federal level, it'd even be possible to make the phone companies add the programming to track call patterns that indicate telemarketing type calls, and look for violations (like not having the proper Caller ID info or calling numbers on the Do Not Call list).
Large fines could then be levied. Might be a thought to have part of them go into a fund to pay for the extra expenses of the phone company in tracking these things.
griffen's LJ)The post was about political calls with weird numbers like 800-000-000
Anybody with a PBX, most types of call center gear and even some sorts of ISDN line equipment can set the caller ID info to anything they like.
There *are* legit uses for this.
I'm surprised that you got a number at all. Most of the ones I've been getting were "Out-of-area" (which means "no caller ID info received").
I've seen a few weirdies. Like a 703 area code number that gave an 866 areacode number as the *name* part of the Caller ID info. Or the 206 code call that gave "Out of Area" as the name (probably a programming error by whoever was trying to spoof things.
Me, I'd like to see the law set to require that *valid* caller ID be present on all "telemarketing" type calls, including surveys and political calls.
By valid I mean that the number that showed would be a legit number for the organization calling. And the name shown should be appropriate (ie either the company calling, or the company they are calling for.
Only exception would be for "local area only" calls in areas where the phone switches aren't set up for caller ID.
I'd also like to revive an old Oregon law that was thrown out (improperly, in my opinion) as violating free speech. It forbade "robot" calls. There had to be a human being, at least long enough to see if the called person wanted the call.
The argument (something about making it unreasonably hard for small businesses to do telemarketing) is pretty much null and void given things like the federal Do Not Call list, which the cheap machines can't be programmed to obey anyway (they just call *all* the numbers in an exchange).
I'd also forbid the practice of having the automated gear dial several numbers at once for a single staffer. The idea is that odds favor only one answering (if any do). My reason for outlawing it is that if more than one line answers, the machine *hangs up* on all but the first to answer, since it doesn't have a person to connect them to.
And I'd either make it illegal for calls to cell phones or any other phone where the called party has to pay for the call. Or require the phone companies to find a way to charge the caller the per minute charges.
If we did this at the federal level, it'd even be possible to make the phone companies add the programming to track call patterns that indicate telemarketing type calls, and look for violations (like not having the proper Caller ID info or calling numbers on the Do Not Call list).
Large fines could then be levied. Might be a thought to have part of them go into a fund to pay for the extra expenses of the phone company in tracking these things.