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From: res@ihuxn.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: A serious flame against telephone solicitations
Message-ID: <343@ihuxn.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Aug-83 18:22:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxn.343
Posted: Fri Aug 26 18:22:33 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 29-Aug-83 01:19:33 EDT
References: <364@hou5f.UUCP>
Organization: BTL Naperville, Il.
Lines: 37

One of the most serious problems for telephone customers was the
invention of a computer driven device that would step through a whole
series of numbers (chosen by the operator of this monster) one by one
and deliver the sales pitch/advertising message/religious exhortation
to whoever answered.  Some models of this device, as I recall, would
remember a list of no-answer numbers and keep trying those.  Note that
this technique requires no list of listed phone numbers, or even
geographic proximity to the phone being called.  The problems that this
brought the phone companies were two-fold:  lots of hacked off
customers who blamed the phone company (who had no control over the
terminal equipment the customer -- the calling customer in this case --
put on their line), and lots of unforcasted traffic on lines not
engineered for this traffic (leading to service degradation for other
customers).

Happily, the regulatory bodies in several (I don't know how many or
which ones) have outlawed this device.  The rules vary from state to
state (can laws ever be standardized?) but one typical requirement is
that the numbers have to come off of a list other than the phone book
(which is copyrighted) and cannot include "unpublished" numbers unless
supplied by the called party.

In this regard, does anyone know WHY the credit card companies
(MasterCard, VISA, etc.) require phone numbers on the charge slips
these days?  Frequently the clerk specifies that it must be the HOME
phone number.  I always use my office number anyway, but I do not like
giving any phone number out to the world at large for no GOOD reason.
Thus far I have not received any funny phone calls that I could trace
to this source, but I am not happy with the situation.  By the way, I
tried for a while to refuse to give my phone number, but that usually
escallated into a real pain, requiring someone on the store's security
staff to tell the clerk that they didn`t REALLY have to have the
number.  Perhaps this is another topic to flame about (replacing the TP
and 55mph discussions, I hope!).

					Rich Strebendt
					...!ihnp4!ihuxn!res