We Need A Broader “Do Not Call” List
Last year I did battle with some telemarketers who kept calling to offer me mortgages, thanks to someone figuring out the loophole of submitting my name and phone number to an online mortgage broker and thereby making it seem like I wanted the calls. I put a stop to it by reporting every incoming call to donotcall.gov’s complaint form.
This year, I am fighting a much harder to stop adversary. Specifically, it is “Iowa” 319-447-5488, which I have traced back to a survey company.
On Wednesday 9/17, I received yet another call from these jerks. Finally, there was an actual person on the other end of the line. I immediately told her we are on the Do Not Call list. Her response was an equally immediate “We are a survey organization; we’re exempt from the Do Not Call list.” Nevertheless, I hung up and then submitted the complaint online.
Then I decided to dig deeper into the FTC.gov site and discovered this:
“Because of limitations in the jurisdiction of the FTC and FCC, calls from or on behalf of political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors would still be permitted,”
(http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt107.shtm)
She was right. Despite my asking them to take me off their list because I do not want to receive calls from them, the Do Not Call list lacks the tooth to stop them. The best I could hope for is that if they ignore my request to stop calling me, I could maybe file harassment charges. Of course, that would likely mean sending them a letter from a lawyer to document my original request – and who has the time or money to deal with that?
My phone number is unlisted, but random auto-dialers still get through. I am on the Do Not Call list, but it has exceptions to its jurisdiction. The system has to change.
First, we need to kill this notion that free speech for political candidates, survey organizations, or anyone else I don’t want to call me extends to my private phone number. Look, if I post a notice at the front of my property that says “no commercial, religious, political, or other soliciting” or maybe post a sign that says, more generally, “no trespassing,” then I am legally within my rights to file trespassing charges against anyone who walks past that sign to knock on my front door and interrupt my day. The same should extend to my phone. If I what I really want by being on the Do Not Call list is to limit my incoming phone calls to just friends, family, and *real* business relationships I have (i.e. my bank calling me not to offer me some new service, but to advise me of something quirky with my account), then I should have the right to do that and to prosecute anyone, anywhere who does not honor it.
Based on that, the second thing we need is a Do Not Call list with more options. Maybe some people like phone surveys. Let them opt in. I will opt out. Or maybe there are people who don’t mind receiving calls to support their political candidate. Fine, let them specify such. For me, I will actively seek out the politician I want to support.
Third, we need a rebuilt Caller ID system that cannot be spoofed to show just “Iowa” or “California” or other ambiguous Caller IDs. Really, Iowa is calling me? The entire state of Iowa is calling me? I didn’t know that many people could share one party line. No, it’s just useless information that makes a mockery of “caller identification.” And it ought to be criminalized as fraudulent representation.
Finally, we need a more technologically robust phone system supported by price-competitive phone companies. My phone service is through Verizon. Yes, they do offer a call-blocking service. However, it is limited to only a finite set of numbers and the price hardly seems worth it. Just like my Norton software lets me subscribe to an ever-growing list of blocked spammers, so too I want my phone company to offer a blocking service that takes the known phone numbers of solicitors who have been communally agreed-upon as offensive. Solicitors who auto-dial and hang-up. Solicitors who won’t take “no” as a deterring answer. And I want an easy to use phone method or Web interface to flag or enter-in numbers of callers I want blocked.
Can we get to work on this now? Before my phone rings again?
