The Barrage of Illegal Calls Continues
For years now, we've heard how illegal and annoying telephone calls were going to be stopped. However, the amount of calls became so overwhelming, the Federal Communications Commission (the FCC, for short) held a competition for the private sector to submit ways to end the deluge of calls onto a beleaguered public. This was just issued today, July 26, 2017: (directly quoted from the FCC website)
"This Forfeiture Order imposes a penalty of $2,880,000 against Dialing Services for making robocalls to wireless phones using artificial or prerecorded voice messages without the prior express consent of the called parties, in violation of the TCPA." (TCPA=Telephone Consumer Protection Act)
How much, if ANY, effect this will have on calls will be seen in the coming months, but the call business is about MONEY, and thus far any fines have failed to instill fear in the moneygrubbers behind all of the calls. Technology is behind the curve, as the bad guys counter the tech used against them shortly after we hear how great the newest way to stop illegal calls is. These calls are so well orchestrated, it almost has to be mobsters from both the U.S. and abroad doing it. They will always go where the money is. Valiant efforts have failed. They now mask their true phone number with a number that will show on caller IDs as being from your area code, and also likely, with your same exchange, as they've learned people are far more likely to answer a local call. Still, this shows the "bad guys and girls" literally have access to the use of ALL phone numbers to disguise their own numbers. Blocking the phony number doesn't really help, because that's not the true number directing the call to you. The "Do Not Call List" was a government attempt to stop annoying calls by regulating who could call you and who could not. It worked to some extent, but only in the sense that it did stop legitimate and law abiding businesses from calling you, but since that time, the floodgates have opened with illegal entities making calls, and since they aren't legitimate businesses in the first place, they don't give a damn about the "Do Not Call List."
"Hang 'em high" is now my slogan. They will have to be afraid, and at this time, they are NOT afraid. Let's not be a nation, or a world, of "making the world safe for telephone and cyber criminals, or ANY criminals." The only true way to stay safe is to stop answering your phone. That's how bad the situation has become. If you call a number back, they now know your number is active. NEVER call back. One trick they use is to have computer dialed numbers that allow a call to only ring once or twice. Some people's curiosity gets the best of them and they call the number to see who called. That's what they are counting on. There are all kinds of ruses to get you to answer your phone or to try to get information from you.
WORD HISTORY:
Block-This word, related to "balk" (English word) and to "balcony" (borrowed from Italian, but Italian got the base from Lombardic, a Germanic language which died out), goes back to Indo European "bhelg/bhalg," which meant, "strong or thick beam;" thus also, "support beam," and the figurative, "pile or heap." This gave its Old Germanic offspring, "blukah," meaning, "tree stump, log, tree trunk." This gave Dutch "blok," meaning, "log, tree trunk." French borrowed the word as "bloc," with essentially the same meanings, but with the extension, "large piece of word, or large amount or mass/lump;" thus also, "something capable of hindering or of causing a hesitation in advance." This was borrowed into English circa 1300, at first as "blok." Before borrowing the word from French, English had, "bolca," from the same Germanic source, and it meant, "a ship's gangway (thick plank) for boarding or disembarking;" and further, "balca," meaning, "ridge of earth between furrows" (from the notion, "a plank of earth that blocks one furrow from another"). German has "Block," the noun, directly from the Germanic source, meaning, "square or rectangular materials bound together, a number of allies bound together as a unit (former "Eastern Block/Bloc," of communist countries, for example, or, "The mayor has a large block/bloc of voters committed to his reelection"), and it is also used in compounds like, "Stenoblock" (stenographer's notepad) and "Wohnblock" (apartment complex). The verb form in German, "blockieren," was borrowed in the early 1600s from French "bloquer." Like the English verb, it means, "to block, to obstruct, to barricade."
"This Forfeiture Order imposes a penalty of $2,880,000 against Dialing Services for making robocalls to wireless phones using artificial or prerecorded voice messages without the prior express consent of the called parties, in violation of the TCPA." (TCPA=Telephone Consumer Protection Act)
How much, if ANY, effect this will have on calls will be seen in the coming months, but the call business is about MONEY, and thus far any fines have failed to instill fear in the moneygrubbers behind all of the calls. Technology is behind the curve, as the bad guys counter the tech used against them shortly after we hear how great the newest way to stop illegal calls is. These calls are so well orchestrated, it almost has to be mobsters from both the U.S. and abroad doing it. They will always go where the money is. Valiant efforts have failed. They now mask their true phone number with a number that will show on caller IDs as being from your area code, and also likely, with your same exchange, as they've learned people are far more likely to answer a local call. Still, this shows the "bad guys and girls" literally have access to the use of ALL phone numbers to disguise their own numbers. Blocking the phony number doesn't really help, because that's not the true number directing the call to you. The "Do Not Call List" was a government attempt to stop annoying calls by regulating who could call you and who could not. It worked to some extent, but only in the sense that it did stop legitimate and law abiding businesses from calling you, but since that time, the floodgates have opened with illegal entities making calls, and since they aren't legitimate businesses in the first place, they don't give a damn about the "Do Not Call List."
"Hang 'em high" is now my slogan. They will have to be afraid, and at this time, they are NOT afraid. Let's not be a nation, or a world, of "making the world safe for telephone and cyber criminals, or ANY criminals." The only true way to stay safe is to stop answering your phone. That's how bad the situation has become. If you call a number back, they now know your number is active. NEVER call back. One trick they use is to have computer dialed numbers that allow a call to only ring once or twice. Some people's curiosity gets the best of them and they call the number to see who called. That's what they are counting on. There are all kinds of ruses to get you to answer your phone or to try to get information from you.
Block-This word, related to "balk" (English word) and to "balcony" (borrowed from Italian, but Italian got the base from Lombardic, a Germanic language which died out), goes back to Indo European "bhelg/bhalg," which meant, "strong or thick beam;" thus also, "support beam," and the figurative, "pile or heap." This gave its Old Germanic offspring, "blukah," meaning, "tree stump, log, tree trunk." This gave Dutch "blok," meaning, "log, tree trunk." French borrowed the word as "bloc," with essentially the same meanings, but with the extension, "large piece of word, or large amount or mass/lump;" thus also, "something capable of hindering or of causing a hesitation in advance." This was borrowed into English circa 1300, at first as "blok." Before borrowing the word from French, English had, "bolca," from the same Germanic source, and it meant, "a ship's gangway (thick plank) for boarding or disembarking;" and further, "balca," meaning, "ridge of earth between furrows" (from the notion, "a plank of earth that blocks one furrow from another"). German has "Block," the noun, directly from the Germanic source, meaning, "square or rectangular materials bound together, a number of allies bound together as a unit (former "Eastern Block/Bloc," of communist countries, for example, or, "The mayor has a large block/bloc of voters committed to his reelection"), and it is also used in compounds like, "Stenoblock" (stenographer's notepad) and "Wohnblock" (apartment complex). The verb form in German, "blockieren," was borrowed in the early 1600s from French "bloquer." Like the English verb, it means, "to block, to obstruct, to barricade."
Labels: Dutch, English, etymology, FCC, French, Germanic languages, illegal telephone calls, scams, telemarketers, telephone numbers, telephone system
posted by Randy at 2:46 PM
2 Comments:
If the calls still continues, I think the FCC should increase the fines until the rest of those companies feel afraid of it. I'm sick of those calls. Almost everyday I hear and read complaints from people regarding those robocalls. I even read an article at http://www.whycall.me/news/my-4500-payday-from-a-telemarketer/ about someone who sued a company after being harassed by multiple robocalls. I don't have any idea on how to really make them stop calling people.
Thanks for your comment, but while telephone service has been important for a century or more, it has never been as important as it has become in the past decade or so. Landlines are dying, as wireless service will become the service for everyone in the not too distant future. Telephone service and Internet service are now the ways people communicate at all levels, from businesses to governments to medical to individuals, and both can now be done with a device you can carry right with you and hold in your hand. We, and I mean people around the world, cannot let the criminals continue as they have been. There needs to be severe punishment, with extensive prison time being mandatory, and we need to nail the big boys and girls, not just the underlings. The efforts will need to be worldwide, because calls and scam emails and websites come from all countries, although they can be made to appear to be local, regional or national. And you are right, every where you go people are frustrated and furious over the intrusive calls and emails.
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