[PEN-L:9412] Sign of the Times

[Anders Schneiderman <aschneid@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Over the past month, I've been getting harrassing phone calls.  After this
last week, as their frequency increased, I finally decided to do something
about it.  I called the phone company, who told me that to put a "trap" on
my line, I had to report it to the cops.  I talked with a cop who handles
harrassing phone calls and with someone at the phone company, and they
think they have a suspect:  a corporation!  Apparantly, a lot of the
telemarketing companies set up their computers to make 10 calls
simultaneously.  The computer is supposed to dump the other calls as soon
as it gets through to one live body, but sometimes their software goofs and
doesn't hang up.  If the cops track 'em down, they ask them to pull your
name out of their database, but that's the end of it.  In other words, if
an individual uses a computer to harrass you by phone, it's a crime; if a
company does it, it's ok.  Welcome to the 21st century!

Anders Schneiderman
Progressive Communications