I have never been a fan of the National Do Not Call registry or the anti-spam legislation that has been proposed.
Both sets of laws have generally struck me as legislation that increases the cost of doing legitimate business, but in practice, they have very little impact on the really bothersome calls and emails that should be the real target.
In May, I wrote about one adventure I had tracking down a rogue telemarketer.
Over the past couple weeks, I participated in another sting for a group that was promising a bundle of communications services – that just didn’t smell quite right. So I worked with the communications services provider to find out who was behind the “unknown name / number” calls in order to shut them down.
The bad actors just keep misbehaving; the easiest approach is to just ignore the call, or hang up on them – which can be quite cathartic, especially if you have older styled phones that actually make noise when you slam the receiver down.
So given these experiences, you may think that I want stronger legislation. No, I don’t.
I’m not crazy about door-to-door water heater salespeople, but there is no registry to keep pushy sales people away. I’ve learned how to say “no thanks” and close the door without pangs of guilt.
I get frustrated by idiot drivers in my subdivision who roll (or speed) through stop signs, distracted by their phones, or make-up, or coffee or kids. A honk on the horn works fine for them.
I would think that personal safety is more at risk from strange salespeople showing up on my doorstep than errant phone calls or email messages.
If a national “do not knock” registry wasn’t required, do we need legislation like the so-called Electronic Commerce Protection Act?