Spam, telemarketing, etc.

Jay wrote:

> I had this discussion with a telemarketer last night. I signed up for
> Minnesota's do-not-call list the day it opened, and yet I still get calls
> due to Minnesota's porous law. (The law allows telemarketers to call if
they
> do not plan to complete the sale over the telephone. In the future, if I
get
> calls from such, I'm going to invite them to come to my house to discuss
the
> sale, where I will then tell them no.) He said, basically, that he
continued
> to call people who had expressed their desire not to get calls from
> telemarketers because some might want to do business with him anyway.
>
> I truly cannot understand the thinking of that kind of person. "Yes, they
> don't want telemarketing, but they want *my* telemarketing!" Bah. It's
even
> worse for spam.
>
> Film critic Roger Ebert wrote the Boulder Pledge a few years back in
> response to spam. It states, "Under no circumstances will I ever purchase
> anything offered to me as the result of an unsolicited e-mail message. Nor
> will I forward chain letters, petitions, mass mailings, or virus warnings
to
> large numbers of others. This is my contribution to the survival of the
> online community." I have taken the pledge, and hold to it religiously.
>
> This has, by now, drifted off-topic for midrange-l. I'm cross-possting to
> midrange-nontech, and hopefully, further discussion will happen there.


I'm with you here, Jay.  I will _never_ purchase _anything_ from a
telemarketer unless I made the initial contact with the selling company and
requested that they contact me.

My experience is different from yours.  Since I signed up for the Texas
no-call list (www.texasnocall.com) a couple of years ago, I have received
virtually _no_ calls from telemarketers, other than those who are still
legally permitted to call me (current creditors, bill collection agencies,
etc.).

Here are the basic rules in Texas (from the web site):

<snip>
Yes. Telemarketers may contact customers:
  a.. with whom they have an established business relationship;
  b.. if the customer requests contact;
  c.. to collect a debt; or
  d.. if the telemarketer is a state licensee (for example - insurance or
real estate agent, etc.) and:
    1.. the call is not made by an automated device;
    2.. the solicited transaction is not completed without a face-to-face
presentation to complete a sales transaction and make payment;
    3.. the consumer has not previously told the licensee that the consumer
does not wish to be called.
Telemarketers with questions regarding their compliance obligations should
consult with legal counsel.

</snip>

I still receive the occasional telemarketing call, but usually as soon as I
tell them that I am on the Texas no-call list and to never call me again,
they hang up.  It cost me $ 4.80 to subscribe to both lists (Statewide
no-call list and Electric no-call list).  I consider my return on this
expenditure enormous!

As far as spam goes, I guess I'm going to have to shut down my email account
and start a new one, once the spammers get hold of it and I start getting
more spam than good email...

Steve Landess
Austin, Texas
(512) 423-0935