www.donotcall.gov

[SpencerH]

I find them annoying. I never buy anything over the phone or accept any 'freebies'. My solution thus far has been to use an answering machine and to have my kids screen the calls. Apparently, these guys find it annoying to talk to an 8 year old who asks them questions about why theyt want to talk to me. Unfortunately, a few still get through.

One of the most effective means is to deal with telemarketors is to tape the conversations (in some states you have to tell them that). Tell them to stop phoning and to take you off their list. If they phone again you can sue. From what I've seen, they usually settle for $500-1000 a pop.

I definitely have the right to stop salesmen from coming to my door, why shouldnt I have the right to say I dont want them to phone me? They can carry on phoning people who dont mind the intrusion.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by The diplomat

But spam and telemarketers?!? Come on, don't you think that people can take care of that themselves? Are people so helpless that they can't handle a few spam emails or few phone calls without the government's intervention?

Its not a few spam messages. Spam now accounts for 1/3 of all internet traffic. Given the growing importance of the internet it's in our interest to protect the free flow of information there, just as we protect the free flow of traffic on the roads, or the mail.

I get 50 and my wife gets 100 spam a day despite setting filters etc. You may say it costs me only 5 min a day to deal with it, but over the course of a year thats 30 hours, which works out to around $1500 of my time. That doesnt take into account the personal and finincial costs of legitimate messages that get inadvertantly lost.

[Q Classic]

in dealing with spam, i've found a reasonably elegant solution to dealing with it.

my one primary account, i give to noone except immediate friends and contacts. if something is sent there, it's never spam (unless it's one of those bloody chain letters or virus attacks). i then have two or three "business" accounts, from the free email services.

the way i avoid most telemarketers is similar. i use my cell as the primary means of contact between friends, faimily, and me, while use the landline as the business phone. usually, i block the business phone with the modem during dinnertime and in the evenings to the morning.

even with that, i don't see anything wrong with signing up for the do not call list; as long as it's out there, why not avail oneself to its services?

the only thing is, i'm sure this will correspond to more spam.

[optimus2861]

Originally posted by SpencerH
Its not a few spam messages. Spam now accounts for 1/3 of all internet traffic.

Just read this tidbit today:

Enrique Salem, president of Brightmail, the secure messaging experts, said in May it saw 63bn messages - 48% of which were spam.

So we're almost to the point where the majority of email messages on the internet will be spam. Yee-gads .

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3035320.stm

My own corporate email address has started to get hit, as well; somehow my address has gotten circulated on a bunch of mailing lists, including those that claim to be 'double-opt-in' and require confirmation emails to be sent. One newsletter administrator callously told me the problem had to be on my end, that a family member was probably using my computer when I wasn't home. Since I live alone, and my computer at work is in a locked office in a secure building at night and behind a firewall during the day, she got a rather snarky reply back, let me tell you .

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by The diplomat
No it is not!

It is the job of government to do what it's citizens want it to do. The citizens of the US have been wanting this for a long time.

What you mean to say is that this shouldn't be the government's job. You are trying to argue opinion in a debate of fact. The fact is, this is the governments's job. It is granted the authority to regulate interstate trade by the Constitution of the US and telemarketers are a great nuisance.

Furthermore, why should businesses be able to intrude into your home unasked? We don't allow the government to do this. We don't allow family and friends to do this. Why should businesses be special?

[chequita guevara]

97% of all my email at home these days is spam. I'm almost ready to give up on the account.

[Spiffor]

I see nobody among the "I don't want the government on my back thank you very much" people has devised a way to prevent calls without government intervention. I'm still waiting.

Besides, I fail to see how this list could disturb them. If they don't want the government to meddle into their phone calls, they can simply avoid to sign-up.

[Kuciwalker]

I actually get *no* spam since I escaped from AOL to cox. (Probably because I haven't signed up for much with it, though.)

[Berzerker]

Spiffor -

I see nobody among the "I don't want the government on my back thank you very much" people has devised a way to prevent calls without government intervention. I'm still waiting.

Try getting an unlisted number, brainiac.

[optimus2861]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
97% of all my email at home these days is spam.

Mine too. I broke down and bought a spam-filtering program to help me deal with it all. On a good day it catches 80-85% of the crap; bad days it only gets about half. I even get Spanish spam, now .

The spam on my work account, on the other hand, seems to be dying down after the numerous complaints I've sent out to mailing-list & newsletter administrators about my address being signed up without my consent. I may have caught it early enough that it didn't spread around too much (please, please, please!).