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It's funny. Laugh. Privacy United States Your Rights Online

Direct Marketing Execs Sign Up for Do-Not-Call List 45

Posted by timothy from the one-law-for-the-lion-and-the-ox dept.
fognugen writes "Here's a funny twist to the ongoing battle in the US over the government sponsored "Do Not Call" list. It turns out that many of the top executives at the companies which are fighting to stop this list have actually signed up for it themselves. The list, which is supposed to go into effect today, is aimed at curbing unsolicited telemarketing."
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Direct Marketing Execs Sign Up for Do-Not-Call List More

Direct Marketing Execs Sign Up for Do-Not-Call List

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  • Not as I do.

  • Eighth deadly sin (Score:3, Funny)

    by PD ( 9577 ) * <slashdotlinux@pdrap.org> on Wednesday October 01, 2003 @02:17PM (#7106470) Homepage Journal
    The sin of not eating your own dog food.

    • Re:Eighth deadly sin (Score:5, Insightful)

      by 4of12 ( 97621 ) on Wednesday October 01, 2003 @02:33PM (#7106699) Homepage Journal

      Exactly.

      Some of the PR folks would have greater credibility if they and all of the upper management were committed [1] to their words.

      A couple of examples come to mind that have been a local problem:

      • cell phone company execs living in houses with views compromised by tall towers
      • Walmart execs living close to one of their stores
      • upper level government execs undergoing constant drug testing, polygraphs, filling out forms to accomplish anything, etc.
      • HMO execs getting their health care through their own "service", getting put on hold, getting claims denied after an eon, etc.

      [1] In the "Bacon and egg breakfast" sense. The chicken was involved while the pig was committed.

      • - Congressmen having the same retirement plan and health care as the rest of us, not having reserved parking for them at the airport, having to pay for all the mail they send, having the same bank accounts as everyone else, having to work the same hours as low level federal employees, etc., etc.

        • Congressmen having the same retirement plan...

          Why should we allow politicians to award themselves golden pensions?

          It raises the bar on corruption.

          Vice President Spiro Agnew would normally have become President when Nixon resigned. But it came to light that he had been accepting bribes for ages. And the really shocking thing was not that he could be bought, but how cheaply he had been bought.

          If politicians have really generous pensions to look forward to only the really greedy ones will acce


        • Congressmen having the same retirement plan and health care as the rest of us

          Their retirement plan [opm.gov] is tolerable. Other retirement plans have more attractive terms (multipliers higher than 1.0% in the benefits formula), but a lot of workers in the private sector are losing defined-benefit pensions and having to rely more heavily upon defined-contribution plans like 401k's (201k's after the Y2K equity bust:).

          Their compensation [miningco.com] is beyond what appears on the GS charts [opm.gov], though.

      • "Some of the PR folks would have greater credibility if they and all of the upper management were committed [1] to their words."

        Why? I mean if it was the founder of one of these companies, then I'd understand. However, just because it's an executive making those nasty things happen, doesn't mean they agree with them. I mean, think about it, you're getting paid $200,000 a year. Are you going to rebel or bark like a dog?

        I'm not defending these guys, I mean it is kind of amusing. However, to many of t
        • Off-topic? Based on what?

          I'm just going to assume that 'overrated' was the intended moderation.
          • Oh gee. Yeah, I challenged an unfair moderation. You better mod me down before somebody see's it!

            Meta-mods: Please go up a couple of posts before you mod me down. I was modded as off-topic for a comment that was very much on-topic.
        • ...it's just a job, not some eveangelistic experience in their lives.

          ...think about it, you're getting paid $200,000 a year

          ...it's just a job, not some eveangelistic experience in their lives.

          ...think about it, you're getting paid $200,000 a year

          If this is true, it should be illegal. Nobody should be making $200,000 and not care about their job.

  • Why is anyone surprised by this? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Ophidian P. Jones ( 466787 ) on Wednesday October 01, 2003 @02:21PM (#7106516)
    Do spammers like junk mail? Do garbagemen swim in their own trash? We already hold these people to pretty low social standards, so I don't understand why we'd expect them to practice what they preach.
  • I would guess that most of the sign-ups were actually done by anti-DMA types who just want to embarass the execs........
    • I would guess that most of the sign-ups were actually done by anti-DMA types who just want to embarass the execs........

      There's an audit trail with the e-mail confirmation - I hope they prosecute anyone who signed up someone else illegally. The last thing we need is a court challenge against the content of the list based on false registrations. Their arguments for a right to an audience are going to fail, but if they can show the list is bogus it'd be a far more solid challenge.

  • What's so ironic? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Tom7 ( 102298 ) on Wednesday October 01, 2003 @02:31PM (#7106665) Homepage Journal
    Seriously. Do you think that spammers sign up for all sorts of mailing lists, on purpose, because they love spam? In the court case, both sides agreed that the calls were unwanted (read the brief!), as did the judge (who was also on the list). So why would we expect them to stay off the list?

    For what it's worth, I think Nottingham made the right decision. It would be easy to fix the DNC list to block all unwanted calls (not making a special exception for political or charity groups), and that would probably end the first amendment problems. But things that limit a senator's ability to campaign are going to be a quite a bit less popular...... so who're the hypocrites here?
    • It's not ironic at all, and no one said it was.

      It is, however, hypocritical. Not to mention it shows a fair lack of belief their side will prevail, unless of course they signed up and then sued.

      • Hypocrisy at it's finest. that is what makes this country so great. We can do one thing (sign up for the DNC), and then turn around and say it isn't relevant(sue to stop the DNC from going into effect).

      • I disagree that it's hypocritical. What the Direct Marketing Association said was that the list should not make exceptions for political and charity related calls. Now making those exceptions is hypocritical. I hate getting a call from an asshole politician as much as I hate getting a sales pitch. The list should apply to everyone. "Do not call" should mean DO NOT CALL and not "Do not call except . . ."
  • This isn't like the Judge that signed up the list. These people are in the telemarketing business. Don't you think they would need to know if their competitors are following the regulations and how effective the Do Not Call list really is? They've probably ordered several employees to sign up for it.

    And if you read the article some of these guys are saying that someone else must have put their name on the list. I know several of you would say "yea right!" but it's well within the realm of things that pe
  • I swear the whole thing is scam just to collect valid telephone numbers for telemarketers. Wait until the list leaks to the internet.

    • Re:It's all a scam (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Kizzle ( 555439 )
      Those lists already exist. They are called "phone books".

      • very insightful (Score:1, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I make a living with phone books. Customers ("marks") toss computer addressed mail.

        I pay stay at home moms to HAND ADDRESS envelopes from phone books. It beats hell out of Occupant Mail, my response rate averages ~6%. A quarter percent is often all you can expect, so my direct marketing techniques are pretty effective.

        And phone books are free and the lists are accurate. Consider that mailings lists are $120/thousand and 30% of that is undeliverable.

  • I just don't get it... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jbarr ( 2233 ) on Wednesday October 01, 2003 @03:05PM (#7107169) Homepage
    I know this may be a bit off topic, but I just don't get it. I provide a validated name and phone number to master list that is made available to every telemarketer to use. They HAVE to have access to it, otherwise, how will they know who NOT to call?

    So, one of these telemarketers calls me. According to the Do Not Call complaint instructions, I must now talk with the telemarketer to get the company name, and phone number (which aren't always available on Caller ID.) I must then log this information along with the date on a web site to file a complaint. Then, if enough people complain (because my single complaint will NOT be heard) then the agency running the program MAY consider taking further action against the telemarketers. And even then, there are so many exceptions to the program that I will STILL get calls. So, I have to waste my time answering the phone, talking to a telemarketer, logging information, and logging a complaint. Seems to be counter-productive.

    Currently, anyone who calls my house, (unless I recognize their number on Caller ID) goes right to the answering machine. If they want to talk to me bad enough, then they'll leave a message. If I recognize them while they are leaving the message, and *I* want to talk to them, then I'll pick up. And isn't that the whole point...to talk to only those people with whom *I* want to talk?

    Can someone please explain just how this list can work. I think it assumes that too many people will actually play by the rules.
    • there's always Call Trace: *57
    • You may not be speaking of the Federal Do Not Call [donotcall.gov] list, but they do not ask for the name to go with the phone number, rather they request that you have enter an email address so that they can email you. Also, you can call 1-888-382-1222 and it will add the phone number you called from without asking for other information.
    • From my point of view, the way the list works is that if anyone I don't know calls me trying to sell me stuff, I no longer have to feel the slightest bit of guilt about being as malicious and abusive towards them as I can possibly be via a phone line.
    • You aren't very smart then, are you? :)

      If the telemarketer calls a thousand people and 1% of them submits the complain, that will probably be enough for the FTC to act. Even if you are among those lazy 99%, the system will still work. And if less than 1% complains, then that particular telemarketing call probably wasn't annoying enough.

      As for you answering machine practice, it's simply impolite and not very smart either. Many people do not like to talk to the answering machine and will simply hang up. And

  • Alternative incentive plan (Score:4, Funny)

    by drfrank ( 16371 ) on Wednesday October 01, 2003 @03:24PM (#7107393)
    The market isn't doing anything for their stock, so:
    1. Add self to DNC
    2. Call self from work
    3. Write off expense as DNC foul-up
    4. Profit!
  • If I had sunk so low as to need a job similar to the ones these people are doing, I would

    a) Have a responsibility to my employer which would probably mean campaigning against the DNC list, and

    b) Still really hate getting calls at dinnertime, and

    c) Expect that my presence on that list would be sufficiently private that I could sign up without fearing for my job.

    WHY THE HELL ISN'T THIS LIST PRIVATE?
  • Imagine the embarrassment of calling somebody up at dinner time and being told "I'm the president of the Direct Marketing Association, so I know all about your fradulent tactics and worthless merchandise, so you're certainly not going to get even a penny out of me!" Better to after suckers that have never heard of direct marketing instead, don't you think?

  • Something else you might find interesting (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ivanmarsh ( 634711 ) on Wednesday October 01, 2003 @04:58PM (#7108356)
    The majority of (reputable) telemarketing companies are going to impliment the ndnc list regardless of its current status. The Direct Marketing Assoc. has also urged companies to comply.

    Telemarketing companies get paid per conversion not per sale. There's no point in calling someone who has already stated that they won't be buying anything, it cuts into your profit margin.

    I'm sure everyone is still going to receive calls about the great new toner cartridge technology that has three times the capacity of a normal cartridge (read reputable above).

  • ... who more or less ignores the phone when it rings?

    My electronic secretary screens all my calls. If the caller stays on long enough to leave a message, I then make a quick decision of "do I want to interrupt what I'm doing to talk to this individual?" If the answer is no, I'll call them back when it's convenient for me.

    I'll never sign up for a DNC list because I have already effectively removed myself from their lists. As far as they know, I'm never home. Ever. Eventually, they stop calling. I hav

  • DNC works in Colroado (Score:2, Interesting)

    by mmchenry ( 712614 )
    Lots of discussion of if the federal DNC will do any good. My folks live in Colorado with a state DNC in place for some time and their unsolicited calls have effectively stopped. I believe that the threat of substantial penalties is enough for most legitimate companies to behave themselves. Sometimes I have stopped whatever I've been doing in the past few weeks and, sadly enough, my mind has fantacized about being under the warm, fuzzy blanket of the DNC list. I receive a number of work-related unlisted

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