Tag: TELEMARKETING

Perhaps calling Aaron Titus a hero is a bit overzealous. But it's hard for us to think of another word when describing this Maryland man, who recently got some well-deserved revenge on his local school board. At 4:30 one recent morning, Titus received a robocall, courtesy of the board, to inform him that schools would be opening two hours late. (Titus claims that he was already made aware of the ...

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 ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... Our favorite avant-garde entrepreneur/pop star just got a little more famous. Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' music video just took the number one spot for most viewed on YouTube -- which is kind of surprising. Considering the bated breath with which the world waited for 'Telephone,' you'd think her Tarantino/'Thelma and Louise' homage ...

It's debatable whether the CAN-SPAM act of 2003 really has had any impact on the volume of unwanted e-mails received -- our inboxes are as cluttered as ever. So, forgive us if we weren't exactly hopeful when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) effectively made robocalls, automated messages from political parties and other unwanteds, illegal a few months ago. But, there is hope, with the FTC filing ...

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 ...

Bothersome and intrusive robocalls, particularly of the auto warranty variety, have become such an annoyance that phone wielders everywhere, including politicians, have been speaking out and fighting back against automated telemarketers. Heeding the public's call for action, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reportedly amended its one-year-old Telemarketer Sales Rule to completely outlaw ...

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 ...

Let's hope that the Simon & Schuster or marketing firm ipsh! employee who, six years ago, decided to send out thousands of unsolicited text messages reading, "the next call you take may be your last," has lost their job. If they haven't yet, then they probably will soon (assuming Simon & Schuster is forced to cough up the roughly $90 million in fines and payouts associated with the ...

Woohoo! It's really working! The government is getting almost $1.2 million from two telemarketing companies that violated the Do Not Call Rule. Take that, suckers. Westgate and All In One Vacation Club now respectively owe $900,000 and $275,000, after repeatedly violating the Federal Trade Commission's rule against calling people on the Do Not Call (DNC) Registry. Westgate bought the phone ...

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 ...