Urban Legend Email Effective At Driving Do Not Call Registrations

from the so-many-gullible-people dept

Fri, Dec 10th 2004 1:06am — Mike Masnick

In the last week I've lost count of how many people have forwarded me an email claiming that everyone's mobile phone number is about to be handed over to telemarketers. I even have a reply which I cut and paste to people. It's not true. Some carriers are trying to offer numbers to a 411 service but it will be entirely opt-in, it won't be put in a book, will only be available on a per-request basis and it will still be totally illegal for telemarketers to call your mobile phone. To their credit, the majority of the people who forwarded it to me did so asking if it was real -- noting their own skepticism. However, it appears not everyone was so skeptical, as the national Do Not Call list received a sudden influx of 3 million new registrations in the past two weeks, which clearly beats the 200,000/per week they were used to receiving. There's nothing wrong with putting a mobile phone number on the Do Not Call list, but that phone number shouldn't be called whether or not it's on the list. And this potential directory isn't going to change that at all.

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8 Comments

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Factory, 10 Dec 2004 @ 4:00am

Cynacism
But I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 years telemarketers can get away with calling ppl on the DNC and then it will become the very worst list to be on.
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brent ashley (profile), 10 Dec 2004 @ 5:31am

number portability
What about number portability? How do the telemarketers know when you start using a number on your cell that used to belong to a land line? Is there a way to know definitively that a number is a cell phone before calling it?
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Paul, 10 Dec 2004 @ 7:58am

Calls are coming into cell phones...
We don't give out our cell phones to any businesses, but my wife and I have recently begun to receive calls on our Sprint PCS phones from telemarketers.

Only the phone companies know the difference between a land line and a cell phone. And I don't believe that they are willing to give out that information, so I agreee with the other person who stated that number portability is going to cause lots of problems in this area.
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eponymous geek, 10 Dec 2004 @ 8:03am

Re: number portability
this is exactly the problem I have. since my cell number used to be my landline number, I get calls (recordings and telemarketers without an existing business relationship) that are not legal on cell phones but are allowed to landlines. If there's a person on the other end I can tell them what they're doing wrong but what about a line hijacking recorded sales pitch? And while we're on the subject, what about telemarketers with old phone lists asking for my number's previous owner?
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2004 @ 10:26am

Telemarketrs suck
Woopee if the email was a scam ... as a result, many more people have become aware of the Do Not Call List and registered #'s they don't want to be bothered on.

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Wil, 12 Dec 2004 @ 2:13pm

No harm
I use a cell exclusively, and have noticed in the past year or so the following tactic: Telemarketers, who shouldn't be calling my cell anyway, call my cell. Before I can say "cell phone, do not call me!" they hang up, so as to avoid the inevitable "remove this number from your call list" request.

Yeah -- I want to do business with these people. Really. And I've got a dead Nigerian General's Swiss bank account number, too!
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Andrew Klossner, 13 Dec 2004 @ 2:52pm

You're already opted in!
"Entirely opt-in" is effectively meaningless when the mobile phone company equates "signing up for service" with "opting in". Have a look at the Verizon service agreement at http://www.vzwshop.com/popups/customeragreement_popup.aspx?zc=97070
and read:
"we won't share personal information ... (This doesn't include your name, address, and wireless number. Unless you arrange otherwise with us and pay any required fee, we may list them in a public directory.)"
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Mike (profile), 13 Dec 2004 @ 4:40pm

Re: You're already opted in!
None of the carriers actually do consider signing up for service as opting in for the directory. In fact, the example you cited, Verizon Wireless, has already decided not to be involved in any way with this particular directory...
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