Aww, jeeaze. PRIVATE robocalls now?

[230RN]

Aww, jeeaze.  Private robocalls now?

New-ish neighbor of mine and I exchanged edresses and phone numbers after we got to know each other a little bit.  The understanding was that we would not pester each other with, you know, "Kitty haz doughnutz," type bullshit.

She's a good sort (zero romantic interest on either side) but now with election time approaching, I found myself getting robocalls "from your neighbor <name>..." about a particular local political issue.

Kind of annoying, seems like it's a little out of bounds, and I don't want to offend her, but holy cow, can anyone set up a robocall system nowadays?  

Minor annoyance, and hopefully it will end with the election, but... like I say, I reckon it's a little out of bounds, no?

Maybe this should be in politics, but it goes beyond just "politics."

Terry, 230RN

[DittoHead]

Are you sure she knows they're happening? It seems likely that she gave out her info (and maybe yours too, which would be unacceptable) to some political outfit that is now using that info as part of their program. She may not have known that you would be getting calls on her behalf when she did so.

[Hawkmoon]

Are you sure she knows they're happening? It seems likely that she gave out her info (and maybe yours too, which would be unacceptable) to some political outfit that is now using that info as part of their program. She may not have known that you would be getting calls on her behalf when she did so.

That was my guess. More than likely, she gave her entire contact list to her local ___ party committee, and they in turn passed it up the food chain to the level from which robo calls originate.

[dogmush]

More likely she either gave some money and showed interest, and they pulled everyone that lives in her neighborhood to add to the pointed robocall, or she downloaded an smartphone app that as part of the permissions had "give access to contacts" and it mailed her list to the mothership.

I know very few people that would knowingly give their friends contacts to a PAC. 

[230RN]

Oh, I guess I didn't make it clear.  It's  her voice, using her name ("this is your neighbor <name>," then she gives a pitch for the issue, still in her voice.  It's not a matter of borrowed information being inserted into a commercial robocall.

I forgot to capture the actual robo-number that called but it's not hers. It's a 1-nnn number.

It could be that the proponents of that "cause" has solicited people to make robocalls for them on their behalf.

Still.  Out of bounds, or not?  (I'm against the proposal, but that has nothing to do with it.)

Terry

[Brad Johnson]

I hope she realizes that giving out someone else's contact information for the purpose of solicitation without the person's knowledge and consent is a crime. (At least I think it is. If it isn't, it should be...)

edit to add... Nix the above. I had my solicitation law mixed up with something else. People sell name lists all the time so her giving a list of her contacts to a third party probably isn't covered unless one of the affected individuals specified no disclosure.

Brad

[dogmush]

Oh, yeah in that case, yes that's pretty annoying.  If she cares that much, she should have made the call live. Prerecording a pitch to let someone else send to your friends is pretty sleazy.

[Hawkmoon]

Still.  Out of bounds, or not?  (I'm against the proposal, but that has nothing to do with it.)

My vote is yes, out of bounds.

But a similar tactic has been going on for years with some charities. Rather than send a solicitation to you directly, they try to enlist someone on your street. That "volunteer" then addresses and mails the solicitations to everyone on the street, signing their name as "your neighbor, Billy Bob Dumbass." It's all to make you feel guilty if you let your friend and neighbor down.

(There are other problems with that scam, too, that I won't go into here.)

[Ben]

I've never had it happen to me with the "personal" touch, but I would be in the "annoyed" column if it did.

On the tangent, people with poor phone security getting their contacts hijacked is also incredibly annoying when you're one of said contacts.

[230RN]

I'm not 100% sure how my number propagated to such an extent.  As far as I remember, I only gave it out to the Sheriff when I got my CCW (on the theory it would be a good thing for them to be able to contact me) and of course, for the county-wide emergency calling system.

My bank and medical insurance people also have it for the same reasons.

But I've had this number for well over twenty years, so it's possible I leaked it myself somehow to "other than just friends."

Terry

[Hawkmoon]

I'm not 100% sure how my number propagated to such an extent.  As far as I remember, I only gave it out to the Sheriff when I got my CCW (on the theory it would be a good thing for them to be able to contact me) and of course, for the county-wide emergency calling system.

I sometimes wonder about law enforcement.

I have had the same land line number for approaching 40 years. A number of years ago, late one night, the phone rang. Robo calls weren't such a problem back then and I usually answered the phone ... and I did. A surly voice on the other end said "This is the ___ Police Department. You need to secure your dogs and allow the officers to enter the house."

This was certainly news to me, since I didn't own any dogs, and there were no police cars in my driveway or officers at the door. I said as much, and the surly voice on the other end proceeded to get even nastier, doing the typical "command voice" routine of repeating the command in a louder and firmer tone, even though the command made no sense. After a couple of rounds of escalating idiocy, I finally broke in and asked exactly where he thought his officers were. He gave me the address of a family with the same last name (unrelated to me) who lived half a mile down the road.

I guess I'm just lucky that SWATting hadn't been invented yet. It's sobering when you suddenly get proof that the local dispatch center can't associate a phone number with an address. My number isn't unlisted. That other family were notorious deadbeats, so I assume their number was unlisted. So the idiot dispatcher just looked up the last name and the street, and didn't bother to note that my street number is off from the address where the officers were by almost 100.

[charby]

Speaking of robo calls, this is my friends exchange. Put down your beverage.

[230RN]

From Charby's exchange above:

OK, thanks for letting me know. Just one more question for you - what issues are most important to you as we get  closer to the 2020 election?

She's just chumming for an argument.  Reminds me of the rejoinder, "You don't want a discussion.  You just want an excuse to tell me all the reasons I am wrong."

It's a complete waste of time and money since Donald Trump is only real choice we have.  He's the only candidate that's not a god damn communist.

That's tellin' her, Matthew.

Stay deplorable.

Terry

[charby]

From Charby's exchange above:

She's just chumming for an argument.  Reminds me of the rejoinder, "You don't want a discussion.  You just want an excuse to tell me all the reasons I am wrong."

That's tellin' her, Matthew.

Stay deplorable.

Terry

The funny part is his name is Jake, he's not sure who the hell Matthew is.

[230RN]

Matthew, Jake, what's the difference?  They're both obviously deplorable.

[Silver Bullet]

What's the feasibility of getting a 900 number for personal business?  Every time one of those robos would call me I'd get a few bucks, right?