Tag: TELEMARKETERS

Back in 2003, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) put the clamps on the telemarketing industry by creating a nationwide Do Not Call registry. This list faced some stiff opposition at the time (from telemarketing companies, of course), but today the proof's in the pudding. Seven years later, according to Ars Technica, the list now totals 200 million phone numbers. If a telemarketing company ignores ...

It used to be that cell phones were safe from the clutches of telemarketers, but sadly that is the case no longer. The good news is that you can submit your cell phone number to the national Do Not Call Registry, even if you no longer have a landline phone. Hit donotcall.gov and within 31 days you should be free from marketing call lists for good. If not, report the offending caller on the same ...

By now, you've probably thought about harming, or at least threatening, a telemarketer, the bane of the evening hours. Fortunately, we're here to warn you that it might be a bad idea. Just ask Charles Papenfus. Or rather, ask him if you could get a hold of him. Currently he is being held in a Fostoria, Ohio jail for making a "terrorist threat," reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The so-called ...

According to the Wall Street Journal, Old West-style vigilantism is on the rise online, as ordinary citizens are joining forces to fight against persecution and harassment. Instead of inflicting street-corner justice on burglars, rapists, and thieves, this new breed of Web vigilantes are crusading against unsolicited sales calls. Congregating Web-link-recommendation site Reddit.com, one angry ...

Telemarketers-turned-inventors from the United Kingdom have started shipping TrueCall (£99.99), a device that acts as an automated secretary on your land line, either forwarding trusted numbers to your phone or answering untrusted numbers with an automated message and shooing them away. When an unrecognized number dials in, TrueCall asks them who they are and then rings you asking whether or ...