How effective is the National Do Not Call Registry?

[Lance Echolot]

ironic

[None]

No, really, he has no idea what it means. He's bragged that he can't add 2 and 2 together. He likes to use big words, and he capitalizes them to make up for the fact that he doesn't understand him.

[None]

What authorities? The ombudsman at usenet.gov? The NSA? The puking kitty department at the local Petco?

If you had half a brain, you'd remember why I don't like you. But half a brain is more than you can muster.

[clare]

If he only got one, no difference. If he gor 2 and now gets 4, or 3 and now gets 9, it's exponential to the power of 2.

To the 3rd and 4th exponent would be a stretch though- - - -

[None]

He might understand 1. Once the numbers get as big a 2, li'l Krissie is lost.

[ChairMan]

In news: [e-mail], [e-mail] belched:

if people didn't answer and buy what ever they are selling, they would soon be gone. so obviously it is quite profitable

Typical of all things govnmt tells you on how *they* are going to help you.

[(PeteCresswell)]

In my experience, it's effectiveness is fast dwindling to irrelevancy.

I still read posts by people who swear by it, but those posts are becoming fewer and fewer. In fact, I have not seen one in months.

The Pennsylvania Atty General's Office blames movement to telemarketing operations to offshore locations and the use of VOIP as the major factors in making telemarketers free from prosecution.

Seems to me like, with most calls, somebody wants money..... and sooner-or-later, money changes hands - so honey trap numbers along with special credit card accounts would seem like a workable alternative as long as the recipient of the cash is in the USA. I guess "as long as" is the gotcha.

I'm about *that* far from going over to all VOIP (my outgoing calls are on VOIP) and implementing a challenge-response like "Press 1 for Sam, press 2 for Sue, press 3 for Fred and, oh yeah, press 9 to actually make my phone ring".

Only two things between me and that are:

- Diminished 911 reliability (although I heard somewhere that even phones with land line service disconnected have access to 911)... but I don't know how that could be verified several times a year without offending The Powers That Be.

- Not knowing if my VOIP provider provides a WhiteList so I can make it so people who I know (maybe my cell phone's directory..) don't get hit with the voice menu.

I think the time is approaching when somebody who marketed a black box that did the challenge-response thing and the WhiteList could make a go of it.

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Kurt Ullman:

+1 here in Pennsylvania. I still have a stack of their lame-sounding letters.

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Lee B:

I got one of those type calls and asked "Haven't you ever heard of the Do Not Call List?"

His reply - just before hanging up - "Haven't *you* ever heard of the Do Not Care List?".

[rbowman]

That was another good idea gone wrong. Since an unsubscribed/uninitialized cellphone is very difficult to trace they have been used to make false 911 calls, sometimes hundreds from the same phone. The flip side is unless you're able to give the dispatcher your location and personal data verbally they won't have access to it.

Even a subscribed cellphone can have problems. There have been instances where a call made from the western Virgin Islands is picked up by a tower in Puerto Rico rather than the VI. So, you may be explaining the nature of your emergency to a calltaker without much English and no clear protocol to contact responders in the VI.

At least in the CONUS, if you wind up talking to a PSAP in the wrong county or jurisdiction they are a little more used to transferring calls.

VOIP throws a little more fat in the fire. Even my home internet connection is wireless, so I'm assigned an ephemeral IP from Verizon's pool. I can tell by the weather forecast and ads that turn up on Google where I am that day, Sunnydale CA, Jordan UT, OK City, and so forth. Cute when you're getting the weather from someplace a thousand miles away, not so cute if you're bleeding out and call 911.

[Buster Hymen]

[BenignBodger]

In my experience, it is totally ineffective. If it was effective then the federal prisons would be even more crowded than they are now.

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Buster Hymen:

This is the first solution I have seen that might work for me.

Only extra feature that I'd call a deal breaker is the ability for the user to manually add to the WhiteList. The audio Captcha is a bit onerous to inflict on everybody who calls me - so I would want to spare them even that one trip through it by pre-populating the WhiteList from, say, my cell phone's contact list.

But the link given on the vid points to some offshore/foreign language site.... so I wonder if the project got stepped on by somebody.

[ChairMan]

In news: [e-mail], [e-mail] belched:

I just had a call that beats all calls that I've ever gotten. Caller ID showed my own home number calling my number and was a robo credit card service. They all should be lined up and shot!!!!!

[Domino Harvey]

Simple solution. The government just needs to put a nice bounty on them, dead or alive.

[Vic Smith]

Since I put my number in the registry 6 or 7 years ago, I only get calls from charities. politicians, and my own credit card. It worked for me. Used to get all kinds of spam calls.

[thekmanrocks]

Vic Smith: Lucky you!

[micky]

Yes, me too. The three things you name are not covered by the Do Not Call law and that's fine with me. I think the do not call list is great.

That said, about 6 months ago I started getting calls from Cardholder Services,

And I got one call wanting money or my computer woudl break. I insulted that guy and no one like that has called me back.

WRT Cardholder Services, I played games with them and insulted them, and perhaps that's why they call about 3 times a week, twice in one day once, but I think it more likely that they xeroxed the list of numbers and gave out several copies with mine on it.

I'm thinking of getting caller-id because of them and because of one lonely guy I met with no car who calls me when he has to walk some place, but I likely wouldn't remember the numbers of the people I do want to talk to.

They have a messgage push some number to be taken off our list, and I naively tried it. Maybe they just say that to verify the number. is in use. If they're playing that game, maybe I'll put that 3-tone number is not in service in front of my regular message and see if that stops them. The cordless phones I have light up when someone is calling and the light goes out as soon as they hangup. Maybe I'll see them hangup just as the 3 tones end.

It's several places online and I think I even dl'd it already.

[Vic Smith]

Try filing a complaint. Might work. And I think you can tell a business where you're a customer to put your number on

*their own* do not call list.

[clare]

I've tried insulting those clowns, but it is impossible to insult a total idiot.