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."      

Just How Safe Are We? The Demise of the Web? Part Three

I apologize for the sort of jumbled nature of this series, but it's a very important topic, with many different aspects, and I made a hodgepodge of notes over the last 6 to 8 weeks, and while I have gone over them and edited them, it is tough to get them into great order, but the ideas are the important things.   

So I'm sure you've heard about Yahoo reading the emails of their users, something that had been going on since about 2013. Of course, like all of the Internet scumbag privacy violators, the claims are always about, "We want you to have a good experience and we'll be able to offer you products aimed right at the things you're looking for." So, in other words, let us spy on you and you'll benefit, because we'll be able to send targeted ads to you. Hmm, that's funny, it sure seems more like the beneficiary is Yahoo and their ad revenue. Secondly, it has been reported that Yahoo also scanned emails for U.S. intelligence; that is, they were spying on users. So now maybe we can call the company, "Yahoo the Gestapoo." "Maybe" that will have to become the norm, in some form, monitoring emails, as the world is vastly changed, and the need to get the "bad guys" may outweigh personal privacy, but that is a discussion we need to have, and it should NOT be done without public discussion. Even if that is the course chosen, it won't be perfect either, no system will likely be perfect, but the current system is way out of hand, they lost control of it by the very way the system was devised, now they are at a loss as to what to do.

As for some of the browsers developed by the scumbag privacy violators, they always seemingly devise them with the LEAST amount of concern for the privacy of users, like putting the sites a person visits into thumbnails for anyone to see who uses your computer ... these bastards! They are just blatantly disregarding your privacy! And they don't care! We need to try to patronize RESPONSIBLE companies, not Google or Microsoft or Yahoo, the best known of the private info mining companies, along with that bastion of intrusiveness, Facebook.

The "hate the government" campaign of the last 35 to 40 years has made us less safe, including our privacy, as it has done everything it can to scare the hell out of people regarding their own government, thus making some people believe the only alternative is to turn to private businesses, which do things FOR PROFIT! That should make you feel safe, right? We've heard how Russia and China lost the Cold War, but they may win the tech wars, and bring about the demise of their long time adversaries by other means. The whole system is under attack by crooks and by governments? Terrorists regularly use the Internet to communicate with each other and to recruit new members. Scammers and terrorists get domain names, email addresses by the gazillion, and what does anyone do about it? I have a sneaking suspicion it's all about MONEY! Only in a system that perpetuates terrorism and scams, would those in supposedly responsible positions then complain about terrorism and scams. They gave them access and let them remain, even if they first may not have known who or what they were. Something has to give folks. Webcams can be taken over and used to watch you. The technology monster needs to be reined in. Philosophical discussions are not the same as action, and the world needs action. The time for talk, talk, talk is long since over. The time for action is here!

It's the same with telephone numbers, how are there so many numbers being issued to scammers to make illegal calls? You don't think it's about MONEY, do you? Some people and groups have valiantly tried to stop the crap, but they are overwhelmed. They may win some battles, but at this time, they are losing the war. You block the number of "XYZ," they call you on another number, then another, then another ..... and on it goes. 

More in Part Four... watch out for "Yahoo the Gestapoo!"

WORD HISTORY:
Reason-This is for the noun form. This word, closely related to "rate," goes back to Indo European "reh," which had the notion of "to reason, to figure, to reckon." This gave Latin "reri," which meant, "calculate, reckon," thus also, "judge," and its participle form was "ratus," which produced "ratio," meaning, "calculation, a reason for," and its accusative case was "rationem." This gave Old French "reison," meaning "logic," which "seems" to have been carried to England as "raison," in Norman dialect, and where it then became "raisun," before being borrowed by English in the late 1100s, and meaning, "a person's sense and ability to calculate;" thus also, "a calculated explanation for something," as in, "the reason there is night and day, is that Earth rotates toward and away from the sunlight."