Ted Lieu Thinks It's Okay To Make Illegal Robocalls
California State Senator Ted Lieu left me a long recorded message (coming from a California number) endorsing the awful candidate Janice Hahn for the congressional seat Jane Harmon is vacating. It's California law that any political robocall has to begin with a live person on the phone. His call for Janice Hahn did not include that live person. In other words, we have yet another lawmaker breaking the law.
As I wrote in I See Rude People, I do not pay a good deal of money every month to maintain a phone line so I can make telemarketers' (or political candidates') marketing costs cheaper. And my time is my own. You don't get to grab it by invading my life with your phone call. And no, I don't maintain a phone line so I can screen my calls, either.
Since Ted clearly thinks it's okay to steal my time and hijack my phone line, I'm sure he won't mind if a lot of people call him at home and tell him which political candidate they favor (or brand of coffee or deodorant). Here's what I just tweeted:
Did you get call w/recorded message from Ted Lieu endorsing (awful) Janice Hahn? Call Ted at home to tell him how you like that 310-373-0271.
I hope people do call him at home. Only by imposing a cost on these people who abuse us with impunity will they change their ways. You want to send me a political message? Send it to me on your dime, in a way that doesn't interrupt my life, by mailing me a letter.
Ted's call for Hahn that came when I was in Colorado Springs was number four of scummy Janice Hahn's robocalls. In the middle of a particularly tough deadline, on Tuesday, Janice Hahn's campaign made their third robocall to me. (This one from Lieu was the fourth.) On Tuesday, I called to demand her home number (a third time) from her campaign manager. He hasn't called me back. How scummy. She gets to abuse me repeatedly at home, but she gets to hide out from similarly being bothered at her home?
As for calling Hahn at home, I have a home number for her that is never answered. So...is it that she doesn't live in her district? One has to wonder. Since my calls are not answered, I can only speculate.
By the way, probably in order to deter me from calling her at home, they had her personally call me at home to apologize. But, it was an utterly insincere apology since she didn't say she'd stop stealing people's time and hijacking her phone lines. It was alos worthless since her campaign has continued to call me. Hahn also was clueless about the law regarding these political calls (how there has to be a live person on the line before the robocall comes on). And in general, from speaking to her, it was my impression that she was no bright light (the words I used when describing her after the call were "dumb as a ficus tree"). She actually seemed sort of surprised that I asked her pressing questions, and was ill-prepared to field them. If she really wanted the best for people in this district, she'd drop out of the race to "spend more time with (her) family."
One of her lame-ass opponents, Dan Adler, is no genius, either. A few weeks ago, he had a double-decker bus come to my neighborhood, at midnight, and 20 feet from residences, had rap music playing and somebody shouting on a microphone, "Vote for Dan Adler! Vote for Dan Adler!" (Breaking L.A. noise laws against amplified sound.) Yeah, I'll be voting for him already -- for asshole/idiot of the year. He'll surely tie with Janice Hahn.
Just got a robocall on Tuesday to let me know how to also make my own robocalls to other people. Something along the lines of "you can do this too"! I reported to the Do Not Call Registry's complaint department. I'm not sure of the company, couldn't hear it clearly, but the number showed up in my caller ID.
NikkiG at May 13, 2011 10:06 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/05/13/ted_lieu_thinks.html#comment-2135008">comment from NikkiGRegarding reporting abuses, also from "I See Rude People":
It's really, really important that we all stop thinking of government as our protector. It really, really isn't.
Amy Alkon at May 13, 2011 10:11 AM
Didn't politicos excempt themselves from the telemarketing laws?
Thankfully I don't get too many calls anymore during elections. I had one state rep gal a few years ago calling damn near every day in a close race. Her email response to my complaint was that it was the "only way to get the message out to the people fast and effectively".
Sio at May 13, 2011 11:03 AM
When I was in the States last summer for a few weeks, I was absolutely floored by the automated telephone systems. Both robo-calls, and the automated answering systems.
I had a lot of phone calls to make, because I was closing down my deceased mother's affairs. If I wanted to talk to a machine, I would go have a chat with my car. The entire idea is complete dehumanizing - if I actually go to the trouble of calling (as opposed to sending email or a letter), most likely I need to talk to a person.
The other thing that struck me was the power that people entrust to these anonymous systems. "Enter your account number", immediately followed by "enter your PIN". Um, sorry, but just who thinks it is a good idea to enter a PIN over the telephone?! Anyone with the faintest concept of IT security will tell you that this is insane!
Is it not possible in the States to have a complete unlisted number, that robo-callers have no access to?
bradley13 at May 13, 2011 12:40 PM
@Bradley13: I don't know if you can keep it from the Politicians, but you can have one unlisted from all normal groups - as long as you don't use it for anything except outgoing calls, and calls from individuals you trust.
Any time you give your phone number as part of the identifying info for some company or other group, they may sell it to a company which provides phone numbers to telemarketers. Supposedly, if you place your number on the National Do Not Call Registry, telemarketers aren't allowed to call, but Politicians can.
WayneB at May 13, 2011 1:28 PM
Done
Ray at May 13, 2011 2:02 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/05/13/ted_lieu_thinks.html#comment-2135360">comment from RayYay. These lawmakersbreakers need to have their actions fed right back to them.
Amy Alkon at May 13, 2011 2:11 PM
Scam: Telemarketers with No Number or Location
I recommend to always press "1", or whatever number leads to the live representative. Lay the phone down if you don't want to use any of your time. Say "Wait a second while I turn down the TV" if you want to burn a bit more of their time. String them along with false stories if you feel like it. You owe them nothing, and they have already broken the law. Give them no real information.
They call hundreds of people with robot dialers to get one live response. If everyone pressed "1", they would be out of business. They couldn't handle all of the useless responses.
Of course politicians and charities have exempted themselves from regulation. They want the money, after all, and don't mind bothering 200 people to get one contributor. Again, listen to a short introduction, agree that you will listen to their recorded message, then set the phone down after the message starts. This ties up one of their lines for a while. The worst thing is to quickly hang up, which minimizes the cost to them, after they have already bothered you.
Andrew_M_Garland at May 13, 2011 2:19 PM
@Bradley13: Unfortunately, the way it works is with a Robo-caller (computer dialer) starting at xxx-0001 and going up sequentially to xxx-9999. Depending upon who is operating it, it either leaves a pre-recorded message, or (usually) if a telemarketer or "charity", it times out and dials the next number if you don't say Hello within a specific time period.
Therefore, an unlisted number doesn't work. The best suggestion I've seen is to have an auto-answerer which requires the person calling to press 1 (or 2, etc) to get a person. Only if a number is pressed, does the bell ring. Robo-callers can't deal with the instructions, so they don't get through.
steve at May 13, 2011 6:44 PM
Advice Goddess apparently has no idea of the law. Political robocalls are not illegal and are not restricted by any do not call list. I am pleased my robocalls helped Janice Hahn win the congressional primary. And I will do it again. If you have problems with political speech, I suggest you try to amend the Constitution.
Ted Lieu at May 19, 2011 6:06 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/05/13/ted_lieu_thinks.html#comment-2152306">comment from Ted LieuTed Lieu is yet another lawmaker who does not know the law. Any robocall that is not preceded by a live person speaking is illegal.
I love political speech. What I don't love is political speech as a form of theft. You have no right to use a phone line I pay for to make your message cheaper, nor do you have the right to interrupt my life and steal my time through your invasion of my home.
A moral politician would pay the costs of his speech on his end -- by sending a letter, putting out newspaper or television ads or standing in a public square and handing out leaflets promoting his cause. I can read a letter -- or choose to throw it away unopened. The letter doesn't leap out of the envelope and stick itself in my face demanding that I read it, whether or not it's a good time or of any interest to me.
Amy Alkon at May 19, 2011 6:13 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/05/13/ted_lieu_thinks.html#comment-2152322">comment from Amy AlkonHere, Ted, remedial education in the law -- there must be a live person asking permission for the robocall to start:
http://stoppoliticalcalls.org/ht/display/ArticleDetails/i/25269/pid/700
Being a lawmaker who breaks the law is like being a newspaper columnist who can't put a sentence together. I'm okay on the sentence-stringing -- how about you start learning and obeying the law.
Additionally, beyond the aspect of what's legal and illegal, it's simply rude to insert yourself into people's lives -- to make their phone ring and potentially wake them or their sleeping baby or interrupt their flow of their work. How disgusting that you can't seem to put this together on your own, and that you are proud of helping to elect Janice Hahn. I spoke to her on the phone and was shocked at how unable I found her to joust with me on the topic of robocalls and whether she'd continue making them and how she justified that.
Amy Alkon at May 19, 2011 6:20 PM
Get 'em Amy! Here are my tactics:
Robocalls should not be considered a 'free speech' right. My home and my phone are private. I have the right to limit communication through my private phone line.
Do I have the right to go to a candidates home, ring the doorbell repeatedly, multiple times a day, over several weeks until they answer, then step inside to make a political campaign statement? No. I would be arrested for trespassing and harassment.
Politicians have abused autodialing technology and robocall laws. Random and sequential dialing is outlawed in most state and federal laws restricting autodialer equipment. This law exists to avoid dialing lines dedicated for emergency use by hospitals, businesses and individuals. Robocallers make multiple calls until the recipient answers, and worse, many robocalls will call you back until you have allowed the entire message to play. Robocallers may call every voter listed at your residence, so you will receive multiple calls on one phone line. Robocallers also hide or change caller ID info so you cannot trace the call. Many robocallers do not identify the entity sponsoring the call or give a call back number for the campaign as required by commercial robocall laws. I have received robocalls for candidates outside my local and federal jurisdiction. This is particularly annoying because the political PR firm that places the calls obviously has my phone number registered to another district. They refused to correct this mistake. I even called the candidates to let them know I am not in their district and asked them to place me on a do not call list. The calls kept coming. Finally, political robocalls are abusing the telephone privilege by sending nasty, misleading attacks about their opponents. These politicians are not the people I want in political office. I do not want their negative information in my home.
I consider Political calls commercial calls, because they are basically trying to sell us 'a Crock of S#!t.'
no teabagging at May 20, 2011 1:22 PM
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