It's Easy To Sign Up Anyone For The Do Not Call List
from the not-so-easy-to-get-off dept
Earlier this month, I wondered why it was so easy to find anyone's phone number on the Do-Not-Call list. Since the list appeared to be open, it sounded like it was ripe for abuse. Of course, not only is it easy to find out if someone is on the list, it's easy to add anyone to the list - even accidentally. The Washington Post tried to look up whether or not the phone numbers of certain judges (who might hear cases about the list) were on the list already. However, they got confused by the interface and screwed up, accidentally adding those phone numbers to the list. They then discovered that it's not so easy to get such mistakes off the list, because you need to call from that number. I can definitely understand why they made the list easy to get on, but you do have to wonder about the fact that anyone can simply sign up anyone else for the list. Already, one of the top opponents of the list says he was placed on the list by someone else, and needed to call from home to get the number removed.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
But then again, since when did anyone at the DMA actually sit down and think anything through...no...I think the DMA folks have their heads so far up their behinds that all they can see is the "green" they aren't getting from the 53.7 million anti-commerce advocates out there (as Anonymous Coward so eligantly called us Ideological Fools who believe that advertisers are so intent in promoting a sale that they don't even take the time to direct the sale to those most willing to purchase the product they are selling and instead shot-gun it to most of the public who not only aren't interested, but are equally annoyed at often having to pay to receive the ads in the first place, and thus will be least likely to purchase your product, then call them rude for not buying the product you are selling.)
If you were so obnoxious that 53.7 million women filed restraining orders against you to stop stalking them, wouldn't you get the hint?
I am all for re-enacting the law of natural selection. No more warning labels! We need to thin the herd a little.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Uhhhh. . .
Of course, I signed up on day so they could have changed it since them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
To complete the online sign-up process, you had to give an email address, to which was sent registration information. So, to add someone you either had to (improperly) send that email to yourself, or do what I did: let the proper person finish the process to be added.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
How to add more #'s ...
I will tell you this ... it only allows you approximately 15 numbers to be added with the use of the same email address for confirmation.
When it would no longer accept anymore #'s I simply used one of my alternate email accounts. I've told my Grandparents, family & friends what I have done and not ONE of them has been upset in the least. In fact, several of them thanked me quite profusely.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
email addresses
You gave the email address of every member of your family to the federal government? Yikes!
> When it would no longer accept anymore #'s I simply used one of my alternate email accounts.
This is why mailinator.com exists.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
Charles W.
[ link to this | view in thread ]