Should the Scourge of Computer Spam Be Regulated?

NewsMax.com ^ | Nov. 23, 2002 | Barrett Kalellis

[Xenalyte]

Now I have to trash all those photos I downloaded of Petticoat Junction.

Because I am such a lady, I shall refrain from making gratuitous Hooterville jokes.

[MissAmericanPie]

No it shouldn't be regulated, never give regulators a crack in the door. Put up with the spam.

[Revolting cat!]

Dude, the Koreans not only eat dogs, but they also consider SPAM a delicacy. Forward yours to Korea!

[Naspino]

The no call list doesn't seem to have any effect though if you cannot trace the caller and they use a voice recording to prevent you from gathering the details from them. We had a call yesterday day from the research institute. What was their name -- "The Research Institute". When my wife asked her to repeat the name she hung up. You cannot even trace the names of the companies.

[taxcontrol]

I have had much sucess with the following two options:

1) call a number that you know is not working. Have a recorder to capture the tones you hear at the start of the call. Then, change you answering machine message. When you are ready to record, play the tones first and then leave your answering machine message as normal.

What those tones do is tell the automated dialer that your number is disconnected - pooof - you are off their list.

2) Memorize the following statement and repeat it to all telemarketers. "We do not accept these types of calls. Please use this as your legal notice to remove us from your list. Thank you" and hang up.

Don't talk with them, don't answer their questions. Simply state the two sentences and hang up.

[woofer]

Why can't they develop a system that returns the spammail to the sender without opening it,

They do and some are quite good at deleting and bouncing spam message from your mail server. I currently use "Mailwasher" ahead of Outlook. I don't see any spam, and every one that makes it to my server gets checked against a dozen blacklists, deleted from the server and then is bounced back to the sender as undeliverable due to "no such address".

[Mr. Mojo]

Fed up with both spam and pop-ups ads, I downloaded the Guidescope program the other day in hopes of eliminating the problem. Alas, since the download, it's actually getting worse.

[justlurking]

In fact, it is so sucessfull, the pols are looking to expand the list to cover cell phone numbers as well.

The "pols" are idiots. It's already a violation of federal law and most state laws to make unsolicited telemarketing calls to numbers that incur a charge to the recipient.

[altair]

Bump. Post #9 is definitely worth a bookmark. Thanks.

[BJungNan]

I got an email from Norton saying that the spam offers for Norton Systemworks were from unauthorized third parties.

Good information. Thanks.

[taxcontrol]

You know, I've always thought that it would be cool to "reverse" the charges plus tack on a couple cents per min. Maybe I could start making money of these telemarketers. [/evil grin]