I've just received telephone spam... a totally automated call that played a
prerecorded message at me and gave absolutely NO response to my voice at
all... giving me no chance to get the details so that I could report them
to the telephone preference service people as I'm on the "do not call"
list.

If you are interested who exactly spammed me, it was Disney trying to get me
to take up an offer for a holiday in Orlando Florida...

and there was no caller ID with the call either so I couldn't get their
number...


so in addition to Junk faxes, junk mail, email spam, we now have bl00dy
autodiallers pushing prerecorded telephone spam...

At least with human operators doing cold calling, you could have a jolly
good rant at them... and they were legally obliged to give you their
details on request.

I'm just about to report Disney for spamming me... Hmmm that felt good...

--
COMPUTER POWER TO THE PEOPLE! DOWN WITH CYBERCRUD!

"paul cooke" <paul_cooke@linux_NO_SPAM_mail.org> wrote in message
news:23766348.hSkcpEB49Y@cooke-main-box.madhouse...
: I've just received telephone spam... a totally automated call that played
a
: prerecorded message at me and gave absolutely NO response to my voice at
: all... giving me no chance to get the details so that I could report them
: to the telephone preference service people as I'm on the "do not call"
: list.
:
: If you are interested who exactly spammed me, it was Disney trying to get
me
: to take up an offer for a holiday in Orlando Florida...
:
: and there was no caller ID with the call either so I couldn't get their
: number...
:
:
: so in addition to Junk faxes, junk mail, email spam, we now have bl00dy
: autodiallers pushing prerecorded telephone spam...
:
: At least with human operators doing cold calling, you could have a jolly
: good rant at them... and they were legally obliged to give you their
: details on request.
:
: I'm just about to report Disney for spamming me... Hmmm that felt
good...
:
: --
: COMPUTER POWER TO THE PEOPLE! DOWN WITH CYBERCRUD!

I thought they couldn't hide their phone numbers anymore? I also thought
they had to give a name and other info? I am on the no call list too, but
I hardley get a call cause I am on the internet. LOL I heard you had to
have certain info in order for a suit to stick. Also they have to call
twice. One time you inform them, second time you sue them. I did hear
that the telemarketers found a loop hole. Why go though the pace of
getting put on the no call list if it's not going to work. Sheesh.


-----
Registered Linux user #334297

begin <23766348.hSkcpEB49Y@cooke-main-box.madhouse>,
paul cooke <paul_cooke@linux_NO_SPAM_mail.org> writes:
[snip]

Today I received a call at work from a Red Hat rep in Switzerland.
She told me she got my name and phone number from her database of
people who had taken a Red Hat Enterprise Linux course. She was quite
taken aback when I said I had never taken any Red Hat course.

She then asked if I used Red Hat Linux. I told her that I have used
Red Hat in the past but that I've never used it on systems where I
work. So you don't use Linux she replied. I told her we do use Linux
on servers and desktops. What Linux do you use. Gentoo I answered.
Gen.. what? G E N T O O.

She clearly had never heard of it and asked me why I use Gentoo. I
rolled off the usual: only install what I need, built to maximise
performance of the HW, superior package management, superior init
system. Realising that I was a lost cause as far as Red Hat is
concerned she asked me if I knew of anyone else that used Linux where
I work. Many I said but they are either converted to Gentoo already
or run Mandrake or SuSE (I'm working on those). :-)

Still, she was very polite and in fact very friendly. It was a most
pleasant 'spam' phone call.

flatfish+++ wrote:

Script Readers are great fun to torment. Make up stuff which sounds feasible
but is nonsensical to anyone who knows...

On 2003-11-13, Paul Robson <autismuk@autismuk.muralichucks.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
I'm getting old and irritable. If I hear a second of dead air... click!
If I hear a request to speak to Chris Ah-ooh-al-stoorm... click!
If I hear a spiel starting up... click!

Then I sigh.

--
Windows desktops and servers can find a safe haven on a
GNU/Linux/FreeBSD network!

Paul Robson wrote:

I have a simple process for dealing with "tele-canvassers".

Rule 1 is that no matter what I will never buy anything being sold via an
unsolicited phone call.

Rule 2 is that I will never provide them with any information whatsoever,
not even as to if they have dialed a wrong number or not.

If the caller identifies themselves and states their business up front I
remain polite, and explain Rule 1 to them ( a minor violation of Rule 2,
but that can't be helped) then, without waiting for their response, I hang
up.

If they don't identify themselves immediately they are fair game, and I do
whatever I can to make their lives miserable, without stooping to yelling
or vulgarity. Generally I prefer either outright satire and ridicule, or
plain stonewalling obstructionism. They don't like it much if you openly
laugh at them, either. Particularly if they are yelling abuse at the time.
If I've got time to kill I will see how long I can keep them on the line,
and how frustrated I can get them. I have succeded in keeping some of them
on the line for more than 10 minutes, and reduced them to a stream of
yelled obscenities. Amazingly, a simple "No, I'm not going to let you do
that", combined with "I have no intention of ever providing you with that
information" is enough to push many of them over the edge. I hope that
after that they had the good sense to seek a more honourable line of work,
like prostitution or politics maybe.

Unfortunately its got to the stage that some of them now recognise my voice
(and I theirs)*. The last couple to ring me uttered something along the
line of "Oh, shit!" when I answered. Then they hung up. Gratifying, but
spoils future opportunities for fun.

It helps that the phone is not in my name. That saddles the timewasters
with a routine that immediately identifies them. It also helps that they
never update their databases. So they are often looking for people who
haven't lived here for years, or who they have already been informed are
dead.

Religious door knockers tend to flee when they see me coming, too.



* By which you can tell that this plague on humanity is less of a problem in
South Australia than it is in many other places. Starting to get worse
though...

Regards
Jim

Jim Trice blubbered effusively on Fri, 14 Nov 2003 at 06:29 GMT:


I have it down to the following:

1. *CLICK*

--
If Bill Gates had a dime for every time a Windows box crashed...
....Oh, wait a minute. He already does!

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 22:15:22 -0600,
Linønut <linønut@bone.com> wrote:

Don't just hang up, tarbaby them. They get paid by the call, take up
some time. It's more fun. If you don't have time to actually engage them
in inane conversations, then just say "hold on a sec" and put the phone
down, they'll hang up in a while.

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Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQE/tILHd90bcYOAWPYRAqhOAJ4r9hhXfXHhZDSkZ1LkAv1B/NS1LwCg1vRE
qNEi8bcecWsAKApeQxbg4fc=
=bjCJ
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--
Jim Richardson http://www.eskimo.com/~warlock
Smut is one of the few things people will pay well for even if the
technology isn't very good.
-- Dale Worley

Sinister Midget wrote:

<snip>

That has a certain elegant simplicity to it. I'll keep it in mind if the
infestation gets bad enough to seriously eat into my time.

But I derive a lot of fun from my routine. The fringe benefit is that so
far those that identified themselves, and to who I explained rule 1, never
ring back.

As for the rest of them, I'm considering aquiring a CD of a German Ompah-pah
band playing a selection of trad jazz hits, then putting the caller on
hold. Or maybe some nice mariachi band playing Simon and Garfunkel's
greatest hits...

--
Regards,
Jim

Jim Trice wrote:

Nah. Hit 'em with a loud, sub 20Hz bass tone. Make their head cave in from
aural shock; http://www.altovolumen.com/download/mp3/ilegal.mp3

Or send them potty with this; http://www.armenianmusicarch.com/nanojan.mp3

If you can lay your hands on it, get the Boston Acoustics Woofer Cooker.

Or try this one;
http://www.harkonnen.net/OLD/mp3/THX...20Speakers.mp3

This is a good one;
http://www.harkonnen.net/OLD/mp3/THX...20Speakers.mp3

You can make sure that you've got a good sound system with this clip;
http://das.iocon.com/cgi-bin/iget.cg...rage1&type=mp3

If your speakers blow out, it was a shit system.

*eg*

--
If you want to be me, lop your dick off first.
http://kadaitcha.kicks-ass.org:83/smoking.aspx

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 07:17:21 GMT, Sinister Midget <sm@sletom002.com>
wrote:

I give them a terse "no thanks" *click*

Kadaitcha Man wrote:

and none of those low frequencies will go down a plain old telephone line
through to their headset as the bandwidth range is only 300 to 3200 Hz...
(3dB points so 300 Hz is already 3dB down on what goes through for 600
Hz... and 20Hz will be some 12 dB down on what gets through for 300 Hz...
so it will be effectively blocked... not to mention that there are other
filters in the system that block very low frequencies cold...

--
COMPUTER POWER TO THE PEOPLE! DOWN WITH CYBERCRUD!

Jim Trice blubbered effusively on Fri, 14 Nov 2003 at 13:02 GMT:

I used to toy with those "fine" people myself. I simply reached a point
where I couldn't take them any more.

Once upon a time I used to get called for polls/surveys. I was always
pleasant about refusing to participate. Some were more and some a
little less nice and comprehending about the situation. Let me add that
most of these were of a political nature (though often disguised) and
generally showed themselves around the time of elections. Anyway, one
such pollster called and I explained the way I deal with these things:
I don't respond. "Oh no, sir" she assured me. "This isn't a poll. It's
a survey." I gently pointed out that there was really no difference
between the two except for spelling. We ended up arguing about whether
she was trying to poll or survey me. That's when I applied rule #1
above on her. I also decided that all of them would get that treatment
from that moment on.

Guess what. I no longer get called for those things! After about a
dozen or so *CLICK* convesations they simply ceased.

Word sure spreads fast!

I found my telemarketing calls diminished after I started applying that
rule, too. As fun as they sometimes turned out to be, I feel there
isn't enough pleasure derived from the good ones to make up for the
others.

When my son was less than 1, he used to get to take those calls, too.

Another anecdote here.

I got a spam email once that had an 800 number in it. I thought it was
going to be a recorded message, but I dialled it up anyway. Lo and
behold, it gave a short spiel, then invited me to leave my name and
number. Instead I started telling the clown I didn't want his spam
crap. I planned on talking until it cut me off, but I discovered that
it didn't stop recording at all! Deciding this was one dumb spammer, I
called him several times over that long 3-day weekend (he was, after
all, paying for the time). He became familiar with my guitar playing,
my son's favorite crib toys, what we were having to eat, my thoughts on
some 60s TV comedy shows, what our weather was like and what it was
expected to be for the next several days, barometric pressure, how
dirty the kid's diaper was, some anecdotes about the people I worked
with and so forth. Since he called me "friend" in his offer to let me
in on his product secrets, I treated him as a really close one and let
him learn a lot of details about our lives. All in all I think he got
to pay for 5 or more hours of phone time.

For some odd reason, when I phoned up my new friend later on in the
following week, I got a recording telling me I must have misdialled and
that I should try again.

I've had more than a few dealings with email spammers, too (other than
the one outlined above). Let's just say that many of them don't contact
me any more after a few quick warnings. The slower ones have spent some
money on their lessons.

I wouldn't describe myself as "asshole" normally, but I've learned to
play the part when I think circumstances warrant doing so.

--
CodeRed: An original Microsoft web crawler.

Sinister Midget wrote:

<SNIP>
Damn that is good! ROFLMAO! Worse than my "put them on hold forever"
routine. That would be, "Can you hold for a few mins?"...."Just a few
more..."....I figure the telephone company really likes me. Hell, I had one
holding like that for almost a half hour. He got paid as well for just
sitting there so I did my part for the economy....lol.

B.
--
Registered Linux user number 243680.
http://www.mandrakeuser.org/
Where the fun begins!
How to ask questions in Linux newsgroups:
http://tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Brian Penix blubbered effusively on Fri, 14 Nov 2003 at 17:16 GMT:

My only regret was that he wasn't being forced to pay overtime on a
cellular call. But that wouldn't have worked anyway as he would've been
there to put a stop to it.

My dad has been setting the phone down for years. My mom, the soft
touch, always listens politely and keeps telling them no. They finally
put in caller ID and an answering machine so she wouldn't have to be
nice to them any more. They swore they hated answering machines and
would never get one, but she didn't know how to be rude enough to put
them off.

--
....Microsoft and its suppliers provide the Product and
support services (if any) AS IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS, and
hereby disclaim all other warranties and conditions...
http://proprietary.clendons.co.nz/li...ional-eula.htm
paragraph 12.

Paul Robson wrote:

|> flatfish+++ wrote:
|>
|> > She is more than likely a "script reader" and once you get her "outside
|> > the box" she quickly falls apart.
|> >
|> > IOW she is the first point of contact and should you give any indication
|> > that you are a "whale" she would have had a real sales/tech person contact
|> > you to close the deal.
|>
|> Script Readers are great fun to torment. Make up stuff which sounds feasible
|> but is nonsensical to anyone who knows...

Recordings of Erik F are now required...

--
cu,
Bruce

drift wave turbulence: http://www.rzg.mpg.de/~bds/

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 11:35:12 -0600, Sinister Midget <sm@sletom002.com>
wrote:

I pay $3 extra a month to automatically screen all calls that have a
blocked originating phone number, as most spam phone calls do. AT
least now when someone calls me, I can get their number with *69.

chrisv blubbered effusively on Fri, 14 Nov 2003 at 21:07 GMT:

Yeah, that's decent. They're satis fied with what they have now,
though.

Several people working here (I'm at work now) have that feature, too.
The problem is all of our phones are auto-blocked and there's nothing
we can do about it. It's a pain to call somebody about something
important, forget that "feature" and have to call back after disabling
it for just that call.

As I say, we have no choice about it because they have all phones set
up to block ID on outgoing because they figure if it's legitimate & not
something that needs to be hidden, we can just put up with the
inconvenience. It's not like we do anything secretive, but the policy
is a blanket.

--
It's a shame Linux has such difficulty running some of the more popular
Windows applications: Nimda, CodeRed, Klez, ILOVEYOU, WPA, Swen, SoBig.

At earth time Fri, 14 Nov 2003 13:43:08 +0000, the following transmission
was received from the entity known as Kadaitcha Man:

If you can still find it on the net somewhere, one of Ely Muff's
industrial techno tracks would give them a shock. I burnt an album for a
friend once, and apart from one track I quite liked, I am somewhat in awe
of him for producing the only music I have ever found physically painful
to listen to to the point I had to turn it off.

andy.

--
remove 'n-u-l-l' to email me. html mail or attachments will go in the spam
bin unless notified with [html] or [attachment] in the subject line.

At earth time Thu, 13 Nov 2003 15:32:40 +0000, the following transmission
was received from the entity known as paul cooke:

The one that pisses me off is when the phone rings, I pick it up, and hear
a recorded message saying 'please hold ... incoming call from BT [British
Telecom] ... please hold'. It's bad enough to get put in a queue when you
ring them, but for them to do it the other way round takes some cheek I
reckon. They only do it when I'm late paying my bill, so I guess they
think they can get away with it.

andy.

--
remove 'n-u-l-l' to email me. html mail or attachments will go in the spam
bin unless notified with [html] or [attachment] in the subject line.