TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls

Re: Political Telemarketing Calls

Mark Crispin (mrc@CAC.Washington.edu)
Tue, 6 Jun 2006 23:26:37 -0700

There is a service called Do Not Disturb which is generally cheaper
than the various "No Solicitation", "Caller ID/Anonymous Call
Rejection", etc. services. It's also *far* more effective.

Do Not Disturb allows you, during a preset time period, to block all
calls unless a 4-digit override code is entered. You can set this
time being to be the entire day.

Optionally, you can choose to allow "*" for an emergency override; if
the caller presses "*", he has to state his name, then you are called,
told when you answer that there is a call from <...>, and then you get
the chance to accept or refuse the call.

If you have voice mail service, then blocked calls are forwarded to
your voice mail. If you don't, then after reciting the announcement
it will hang up if the 4-digit code isn't entered during the
announcement.

This option is not for everybody; but it *is* effective. All my
trusted contacts have my 4-digit code. Since I put this in I've had
zero solicitation calls.

Yeah, I didn't mind when the local search & rescue volunteer
organization called me to offer to sell me discount tickets to the
rodeo. It was good to save a few bucks on rodeo tickets and help a
good cause. Nonetheless, this benefit was outweighed by the
Florida-based scam artists (such as Integrated Credit
Solutions/Lighthouse Credit Foundation in Largo, and OneSetPrice in
Orlando, both of which have been whacked by the FTC) who repeatedly
pissed in the well. I would not mourn if global warning causes
Florida to sink into the Atlantic.

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

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