Re: [privacy] FTC Hangs Up on Telemarketers' Pitch

["Dave Killion" <dave.killion () gmail com>]

On 10/17/06, Drsolly <drsollyp () drsolly com> wrote:
> > I figure it will set me back about $500 total for the card and then
> throw it
> > in a spare computer I've got lying around.  I'd set it up with a white
> list
> > of callerID's to automatically pass-through, and a recording for all
> others
> > that informs them I don't take sales calls, etc, and to press one if
> they
> > are not a sales call.
> >
> > I just gotta find the time...
>
> You also have to find sales callers who don't hit one when they hear that
> message.
I'm hoping whatever I put in the 'etc' part will discourage them from doing
so.  Something along the lines of:

"This number is on the Do Not Call list. If this is a sales call, hang up
now, or be subject to penalty under FTC Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 310.  If this
is not a sales call, please press one now."

Try to make it short, sweet, and legalistic enough to make the
100-rupee-a-day telemarketers at least think twice about pressing 1.

The system will also have a log of the time, date, and callerID of the call,
and it can even record the call if I like (I'd have to add a notice at the
beginning, I'm sure), so if I did want to post a complaint, I could script
up something that automatically filed the complaint for me - e.g. I could
hook in something that say I dialed some sequence of numbers that it would
take me off the call, play a recorded message ("You have violated FTC Rule,
16 C.F.R. Part 310, and a complaint is being generated..." etc), similar to
the "Phone Butler" gadget (
http://www.privacycorps.com/pages/phone-butler-review.htm - $40~$50 + S/H)
people buy to politely hang up on people.

Will it stop them all?  Probably not.  Will it drop my 3-5 calls a day to
something more reasonable?  I hope so!

I understand that I'd be spending more time setting this up than I'd ever
spend dealing with calls, but it's more than the time - it's the disruption,
the frustration, etc that I'd be getting rid of.

Plus, I'd have a full VOIP-enabled PBX, if I wanted to play with the other
features of Asterisk.  Or start my own telemarketing company!  Err... not...

-Dave

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