how much phone spam is legal

[slac.in.the.box]

I don't like running downstairs to get to the phone, answer it, only to find it is a recording telling me about my wife's library book being overdue... or a recording telling me I have a past due balance on my phone, power, line of credit, etc.

So, because of the golden rule, I've never made my computer send automated recordings to individuals, even though I could, as I read over those sections in the documentation of the asterisk voip server platform, and maintain an asterisk server for answering calls. Sending out recordings like that would be no problem for this server, but I wouldn't do it to you. Corporations on the other hand...

I don't like physical junk mail. The amount of resources wasted on trying to get me to sign up for this or that, or browse a catalog, sending it all the way 45 minutes from the nearest fuel station. One company in particular (Capital One) has been sending several offers a week for decades; based on the amount of waste spent just on me, I would never agree to one of their offers or reward such invasive solicitation practices.

Here's my question: Is it legal to program my voip system to send Capital One daily reminders that I hereby reject all offers of credit, past, present, and future, and would not like to receive these offers at my physical address? How frequent can I send such reminders? Surely as frequently as they send me offers of credit. Where would I even look something like that up? The FCC? There's something to the taste of one's own medicine kind of poetic justice. But I don't want to commit a crime.

According to this link, it seems that it would be legal, as long as I don't tie up more than two lines of a business.

 

[quincy]

Although the temptation might be great, I advise against any form of retaliation. Instead I suggest you explore call screening, answering machines, number blocking and other similar options for your phones.

You might see changes to how many unwanted calls you receive soon anyway. The President signed the bipartisan Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (TRACED Act) into law, which increases the penalties for those who make spam calls. Here is a link to the text of the Act:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/151/text

The link you included in your post, by the way, is being reviewed by the moderator.

 

[HighwayMan]

I don't like running downstairs to get to the phone...

Get a cordless phone with a caller ID display on the handsets.
.

 

[quincy]

There are a lot of simple solutions. We aren’t bothered by spam callers because we screen calls.

 

[slac.in.the.box]

Get a cordless phone with a caller ID display on the handsets.
.

How does getting a cordless phone tell me how many times I'm allowed to phone spam a corporation? Reading an entire post before responding will help you know what to respond to.

I don't mind aggravating the companies that feel justified in aggravating everyone else. The question is about the legality of sending automated telephone reminders to corporations and businesses who send out junkmail, reminding them that we don't want it.

 

[Just Blue]

How does getting a cordless phone tell me how many times I'm allowed to phone spam a corporation? Reading an entire post before responding will help you know what to respond to.

I don't mind aggravating the companies that feel justified in aggravating everyone else. The question is about the legality of sending automated telephone reminders to corporations and businesses who send out junkmail, reminding them that we don't want it.

The cordless phone with caller i.d. will allow you to screen your calls thus prevent you from having to run downstairs what a spammer calls.

 

[quincy]

How does getting a cordless phone tell me how many times I'm allowed to phone spam a corporation? Reading an entire post before responding will help you know what to respond to.

I don't mind aggravating the companies that feel justified in aggravating everyone else. The question is about the legality of sending automated telephone reminders to corporations and businesses who send out junkmail, reminding them that we don't want it.

You should find relief from unwanted calls, possibly within the year, as enforcement moves away from the consumer to the phone service providers.

You could send letters to the companies who have been bothering you (formal letter, USPS certified mail) stating that you want all phone communications to stop. You could in your letter refer to or include a link to the TRACED Act. You could file a complaint with the FTC.

Or you could take the measures already outlined to prevent the calls from interrupting your life.

 

[slac.in.the.box]

The cordless phone with caller i.d. will allow you to screen your calls thus prevent you from having to run downstairs what a spammer calls.

My point about going downstairs, is just to acknowledge that spam bots can be irritating, which is why I've never bothered with telephone spamming of individuals. There's lots of ways to defeat them. That's not the question.

This question is about the legality of sending automated telephone reminders to corporations--I am the spam botter; except that I don't need to spoof caller ids, because I can spam by the books. The link provided by Quincy to the recent December 2019 legislation is helpful and in the right direction, however it is mostly about thwarting unlawful robocalls -- ones with spoofed caller-ids from hacked voip providers; the STIR/SHAKEN framework is mechanism to thwart the caller-id spoofing. It was developed by SPRINT and Comcast -- competitors. I personally think it's fascist for a government to mandate how voip is conducted, especially mandating protocols implemented by competition. However, they are irrelevant, because they're about thwarting unlawful robocalling. My question is about lawful robocalling. I won't spoof my callerid, and I can implement STIR/SHAKEN. Check. Dentists offices could now employ me to send robocall appointment reminders--except that I haven't offered because I don't want to bother individuals with robocalls.

However, companies that bother me with junk mail are an exception. I want to send them robocalls asking them to stop. I won't spoof my caller id. I believe this to be a lawful robocall. How many lawful robocalls can I make to companies? Companies are legal entities with phone numbers, and I can call them legally. I am going to program my robot to call them for me and deliver my message. How many deliveries an hour/day/week/month are legal? That's the question. I'm going to ask a lawyer next week when my appointment finally arrives... but I want to be as informed as I can be before the meeting.

 

[quincy]

It is no more legal for you to spam or robocall spammers and robocallers than it is for the spammers or robocallers to spam or robocall you.

Again, write letters and take steps to prevent calls. Changing your phone number can work to curtail calls.

 

[slac.in.the.box]

Or you could take the measures already outlined to prevent the calls from interrupting your life.

I'm asking about how many times I can try to interrupt your life (or the lives working at the office buildings that would be receiving my "no junk mail" reminder calls). I am a bot whisperer; they don't bother me; they're my friends, and do whatever I whisper to them. I've never whispered them onto any individuals. But I'm getting ready to sick a fleet of them onto Capital One, and a few other entities that won't stop sending me junk mail (I've already asked them politely to cease mailing me unwanted garbage, both on phone and in writing).

My question is about lawful robocalling, and how many times per hour/day/week/month I'm allowed before it becomes unlawful.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

It could be considered harassment after just a few calls.

 

[quincy]

I'm asking about how many times I can try to interrupt your life (or the lives working at the office buildings that would be receiving my "no junk mail" reminder calls). I am a bot whisperer; they don't bother me; they're my friends, and do whatever I whisper to them. I've never whispered them onto any individuals. But I'm getting ready to sick a fleet of them onto Capital One, and a few other entities that won't stop sending me junk mail (I've already asked them politely to cease mailing me unwanted garbage, both on phone and in writing).

My question is about lawful robocalling, and how many times per hour/day/week/month I'm allowed before it becomes unlawful.

There is no designated number of spam calls that are legally allowed. If your calls of whatever number annoy the recipient, you can be in violation of the law.

 

[quincy]

Here is a link to an FTC article on robocalls:
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0259-robocalls

 

[slac.in.the.box]

How do you screen junkmail? Physical junk mail in the physical mailbox outside the house? Our mailbox is full every day, and though it makes for convenient kindling, it is an unsustainable practice. Catalog after unwanted catalog I thow in the fire; I have to look through this heaping pile of paper nearly every day, because occasionally there is a customer's check, and I don't want to miss that. The ammount of physical junk mail that is the same every day from the same companies is nauseating. How much waste they're willing to go though to get their paper spam to me in the middle of nowhere: when I multiply that waste by the number of citizens they are targeting, I am staggered. So I am using phone spam to fight physical mailbox junkmail. I don't think this is against the law. But I don't know. If I wasn't a bot, but just a person, calling over and over, with the same request: stop sending me mail, how many times can I do this, before they think it is harassment? I think the mail in my box is harassment. It upsets me because of the waste. I don't think they will stop unless we make them. I want my address to be flagged as the guy who will drive us nuts if we send him anything; leave him alone. In other words; I'm trying to learn how to train corporations to practice the golden rule. When corporations hear "the golden rule" all they see is the gold. But I think if they are entities and are afforded legal status, then they need to have ethical status too. How can we teach corporations about the real golden rule? By delivering poetic justice. By spamming them back. Giving them a taste of their own practices. That's how individuals figured it out.

 

[cbg]

Zero phone spam is legal. Just because other entities break the law, doesn't make it legal for you to do so.