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Politicians Realize That Politicians Are Abusing 'Do Not Call' Politician Exemption
from the dilemmas dept
Back when the national "Do Not Call" list was first put in place, the politicians writing the law made sure to exempt themselves from it. Political calls were not covered by the Do Not Call list, and politicians could call people who were on the list as much as they wanted. And, in fact, it appears that's what some politicians are doing. Even worse, they're using automated dialers that keep calling and calling and calling and calling. Just as with political spam, it appears that a few politicians are finally willing to recognize that inundating people with unwanted communications isn't helping their campaigns. Some Senators have proposed some new rules that would limit those political robocalls. Note that it won't stop them or make them subject to the Do Not Call list. Instead, it would merely limit them: only 2 calls per day, no calls before 8am or after 9pm and no hiding the caller ID info. Of course, can someone explain why you would need to hear a recording of a politician calling you even twice a day? It's nice that some are recognizing what a nuisance these calls are, but it doesn't seem like these limits are likely to lessen the annoyance factor by very much.
Reader Comments
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Well...
Well, its a good thing I havent gotten one of those calls yet. If I did, it would most certainly secure the vote. FOR THE OTHER GUY.
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Re: Well...
Maybe they're impersonating the other guy to make you vote for him...
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Case in point: Bill Sali, congressman from Idaho.
Ring, Ring: "unknown number" on the caller ID.
Then pause, click, followed by the braying of a political jackass hard selling his 'phone-in town hall meeting'.
Years ago we realized Sali was a dysfunctional contrarian while in the Idaho Legislature.
At the Federal level, his onging interruptions of our dinners and evenings shed a whole new loutish light on his behavior.
Bill preaches 'family values' but doesn't miss a chance to interfere with family time.
His middle initial must be 'H', for hypocrite.
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This is such a joke. When the law came out I read all of the statutes and wasn't surprised about the exemption. Also, for businesses like mine, who deal with clients nationwide, it would cost us several thousands of dollars to obtain the do not call list for each area code across the US. It basically is a way cut out small and legitimate businesses from honest marketing. In my opinion, that is what caller ID is for and it already was a law for businesses to not block their calls. Also, if you told a business not to call you again, then they could be fined for doing so if you had asked them to place you on their do not call list. Now, I still get blocked calls from businesses pretending to be ???? and that's why I think that all the law did is help to boost big businesses who can afford the list and also businesses who operate outside of the law.
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Re:
EdwardDupre.com says: "It basically is a way cut out small and legitimate businesses from honest marketing. In my opinion, that is what caller ID is for and it already was a law for businesses to not block their calls"
The country rallied around a do-not-call list because no one wants ANY businesses or politician calling them. It is not ANY homeowner's responsibility to pay extra for caller ID, or any other feature if they do not want to be bothered by the likes of you. The only "honest marketing" is on billboards, magazines, and commercials. You do not have the right to interrupt anyone's lives with your unsolicited advertising.
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Romney for the lose
Yeah, the day before the primary we got a call at 4 by a romney recording, then by some chick for romney at 7:30 and another from romney again at 9:45. All it did was ensure I wasn't going to vote for his annoying @$$
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2 calls per day
I think the reasoning behind the 2 calls per day are to allow some room for error incase a number is pulled up twice.
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Re: 2 calls per day
How come politicians are allowed room for error but no one else is?
Surely the people in office should as much as possible be the types of people who don't make that many errors? If you can't run your staffers effectively how the hell are you going to run a country?
Or maybe you could use this as a sort of a Darwinian process to weed out those that do?
Either way i'm glad they don't do political telesales this side of the atlantic in the UK - it would be more likely to turn me off than make me vote for someone
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Think a little
for the love of pete! I never want
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political spam
You should do another article on political spam...it is become more and more common for candidates to "append" email addresses that they have purchased from data vendors to their own email files and then send messages to them, knowing that they are exempt from the can-spam act.
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A Good start - But Not Enough
this is a good start, but not really enough.
These calls are an epidemic and are invading the privacy of All American Voters.
Our members are taking a stand and saying enough is enough at the National Political Do Not Contact Registry at StopPoliticalCalls.org.
Here is a quote from a member this morning:
"I find it very frustrating... I tend to get calls at the WORST time. I have a one year old daughter, and it NEVER fails that the phone will ring when I put her down for a nap or for bed. Also my vote is PRIVATE... so who do you think you are calling with a survey to find out who I am voting for!!! Stop calling me."
Regards,
Shaun Dakin
CEO and Founder
http://www.stoppoliticalcalls.org
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Reasons like this are why I disconnected my phone and will not have one in my house.
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Simple: You call me more than one time a year
and I vote for the other guy. See, was that so hard?
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Dum Robo calls
"...appears that a few politicians are finally willing to recognize that inundating people with unwanted communications isn't helping their campaigns."
That is the point .
Keep the calls legal !!
Let the Pols and their campaigns who are dumb enough to over-robo-call suffer defeat at the polls.
That why we have campaigns ,, not so much to see how smart Pols are ,, but How Dumb They Are !!!
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room for error, my arse. two per year is pushing it
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This is where services like GrandCentral will become useful. Give out the GrandCentral number, and if someone calls and calls and calls, just send them automatically to voicemail. It never touches your work, home, or cell phone.
Woadan
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wasn't this covered like 15 years ago?!
Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_Consumer_Protection_Act_of_1991
It limits the use of autodialers, recordings, SMS messages, faxes, ID blocking, etc., etc...
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Robocalling - What is Wrong with these People?
Interesting that someone brought up the idea of "pretending to be another candidate". That happened actually - in 2006 - to Tammy Duckworth, running for a hot congressional seat in Missouri. A GOP-affiliated organization robocalled people repeatedly, and the annoying calls started out by talking about Duckworth - the name of the organization was only at the end. Apparently, most people who received the call though it was from the Duckworth campaign. A seriously skeevy thing to do to a veteran who was, not so longer ago, doing her part in Iraq, and lost both of her legs there... I should also add - some Republicans also claim that the same tactic has been used against them. I can, sadly, believe it... If my memory serves, during the GOP primary race between W and McCain, NH voters in 2000 were called in the middle of the night by someone claiming to be a McCain supporter; there were also some ugly calls made in South Carolina. Now there are new allegations regarding calls in New Hampshire, only it would have benefited McCain and hurt Romney - http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2008/01/romney-mccain-d.html Here's another interesting discussion at the Washington Monthly (a moderate publication, for once)regarding robocalling - http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/010021.php
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The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was unconstitutional - Do you see anyone doing anything about that?
I gave up on this country and all the damn lies! I just assume it's all lies!
I got these calls also - and am on the do not call list - I picked up and hung up once and they just call back until they are allowed to complete their pitch - ITS COMPLETE FUCKING BULLSHIT!
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