State "no e-mail" lists

From: V. Campbell <webmaster_at_websponsorzone.com>
Date: Mon 13 Oct 2003 11:31:31 -0500

Rob Frankel wrote:

>Moreover, telephones are distinct in that they are the only
>techno-devices over which the owner does not have complete control
>over activation. That means that anyone can intrude on the owner
>without that owner's consent in the owner's personal environment.
>
>This is not like e-mail or postal mail, which arrives in an arm's
>length receptacle, allowing the owner the option of opening.


Telephones can easily be made into "an arm's length recepticle," as
well. Just as I can theoretically refuse to open my postal mailbox,
or refuse to check my email, I can also refuse to answer my telephone
and voicemail. Even with a mobile phone, I could turn off the
ringer, or ignore it, and ignore text-messages.

If I wish, I can set up systems to only ring the telephone if
the call originates from certain numbers, or if the caller
enters an authorised PIN. At the least, I can audio-screen
calls by listening to the messages being left on the anwering
machine.

My personal solution, for many years, is to simply send
everyone to voicemail (or pager for employment-related
callers), and then deal with them on my own schedule. If
it were necessary, I would have a mobile phone, while
keeping the number strictly on a "need-to-know" basis.

So, since telephone calls *can* be kept at arm's-length,
*now* how do you distinguish telemarketing from postal
and e- junkmail? If postal and e- junk is acceptable just
because it can be filtered, then why would you view phone
spam any differently, since that can also be filtered?


>A phone call can be a telemarketer or an emergency call
>from your child's school; the device doesn't care.


Snail-mail and email also don't care about the urgency
of the message. And the line between email and a phone
message is becoming blurred, with SMS text-messaging,
and the ability to check one's email on one's mobile
phone. "Your child's school" could easily say, "Gee,
Mr. Frankel isn't answering his home phone, so I will
send him an SMS message and/or an email, which will
alert him via his mobile phone."


>The DNC should also apply to fax machines for this reason, as well.


In the USA, a federal law, the Telephone Consumer Protention Act
Of 1991 already prohibits unsolicited "junk"-faxes:

http://www.ministryofprivacy.com/telemarketing/tcpa.html

-V. Campbell

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Received on Mon Oct 13 2003 - 11:31:31 CDT