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Print 5 comment(s) - last by Mike Acker.. on Mar 19 at 8:10 AM
The citations are just warnings for now, but could lead to big fines if the calls don't stop

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued citations to two known robocallers in an effort to put a stop to the illegal activity.

Robocalls are illegal automated calls to mobile phones, which usually offer the recipient a scam of some sort.

The FCC cited two robocaller companies -- Dialing Services and Democratic Dialing -- for making over 1 million illegal calls each during 2011 and 2012. Both companies were tied to political campaigns, where Dialing Services is listed on websites like "GOPCalls.com" and Democratic Dialing is obviously in favor of democratic sites.


"Consumers have increasingly been sounding the alarm on robocalls," said FCC Enforcement Bureau chief Michele Ellison. "These citations set the stage for significant monetary penalties if violations continue."

The citations are just warnings for now, but if the companies don't quit with the robocalls, they could be fined as much as $4.8 million.

In October 2012, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) created a competition called the "Robocall Challenge," where those who come up with a solution to ending robocallers will win up to $50,000 USD. The contest ran through January 17, 2013, at 5:00 pm ET, and the winners will be announced April 15.

Source: CNN Money


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contest
By fic2 on 3/18/2013 1:21:40 PM , Rating: 5
Wish I would have known about the contest. My entry:
Anyone convicted of robotcalling will have a to listen to their robocall 24 hours a day for 1 year.
Then stoned to death by old cell phones (phoned to death?).




RE: contest
By JediJeb on 3/18/2013 8:53:46 PM , Rating: 2
I want a device that when attached to your phone allows you to push a button when you receive one of these calls and it sends a 5M volt surge back down the connection to fry every piece of electronics in the originating building.


Auto-Dialer AT-5000
By artemicion on 3/18/2013 2:23:00 PM , Rating: 2
Picture should be Homer's (aka "Happy Dude") Auto-Dialer AT-5000.




Democracy Leads to Mob Rule
By Reclaimer77 on 3/18/2013 9:00:49 PM , Rating: 2
This is why the Founders made us a Republic, not a pure Democracy.

An organization as powerful as the FTC holding "contests" which reflect the uneducated whims of the masses, the mob, is worrisome. Sure we all hate robocallers, but maybe the next issue will be something that you DO care about.

And for all the idiots calling for Government action on what amounts to a simply annoyance, yeah, it's called "Caller ID".




identify origin
By Mike Acker on 3/19/2013 8:10:47 AM , Rating: 2
stopping this should be a simple technical issue: service providers should not permit calls to be made that do not provide accurate Caller_ID

too, we should all be allowed to white-list our phones, and no, a 10 number white list is not adequate .

when you look at this honestly you have to wonder who the real clients of the phone system are




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