Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!gryphon!vector!telecom-gateway From: karl@ddsw1.mcs.com (Karl Denninger) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Can We Outlaw Junk Calls? Message-ID: Date: 8 Sep 89 19:32:43 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) Organization: Macro Computer Solutions, Inc., Mundelein, IL Lines: 52 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 365, message 6 of 7 In article lars@salt.acc.com (Lars J Poulsen) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 349, message 1 of 4 >Readers of TELECOM are familiar with discussions about how much some of >us would like to get Caller*ID so that we can fight back at >telemarketers. Well, the other day, I lost my cool, and decided to "do >something" about these calls; so I sent the attached letter to the >business that was bothering me, with copies to a number of others that >may help change the situation. I will keep you posted on any replies >that I may get. IMHO you're out of line. When you get a telephone you lose that sense of "privacy" that you so cherish. The same is true when you use a charge plate, or register a vehicle, or do any one of a number of other "public" things. Next you'll scream about "junk mail" -- although it costs you nothing to throw it away (just as it costs you nothing, including your time, to IGNORE that ringing phone.) It's time that our society started putting responsibility with the INDIVIDUAL. Legislation is not the answer. Your suggestions are insulting. The solution to the problem you are facing is simple -- don't answer the telephone. We have become a society enslaved to that damn little bell, and it's time that the people realize that just because it rings YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ANSWER IT. If you want to insure that you don't miss something important then buy an answering machine and screen your calls -- tell your friends and relatives what you're up to so they don't hang up on it. Instant problem solved. The number of people who are hung up on legislative solutions amazes me. We used to be a country of free-thinking and free-acting people. Now we all of a sudden want to call for laws to ban this, that and the other thing. Whether it's telephone solicitations, guns or drugs, the point is the same. We are increasingly unwilling to take responsibility for our own lives and instead look to the government to solve all our problems. The trouble with this "solution" is that it isn't one -- in getting our carrot (regulation of this or that) we give up our freedom. You don't like telemarketing? I don't either. But you don't hear me screaming for laws -- I simply turn on the answering machine, and only pick up the phone if I want to. The rest can listen to my incredibly boring message, and waste the tape in the machine if they're so inclined. It can always be erased. Why is it that people think they're enslaved to that darn little bell? I am master of my machines, not the other way around. -- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, !ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 312 566-8911], Voice: [+1 312 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"