SPAM and Telemarketers

The other day I was in a bar and these two chicks were talking about how much spam they are getting. They also talked about how every time they get spam they always click on unsubscribe, etc. They are also on Facebook and several other social networking sites. Then, about a week ago I overheard one of the IT guys talking to another guy about one of their users. The user had a smart-phone and had two pages of social networking apps loaded onto it…and they were having all kinds of problems, including being inundated with SPAM.

So here is bRad’s handy tip of the day:
If you are subscribed to Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, MySpace, or any number of other social networking sites, and you are getting a lot of SPAM then shut the fuck up! All of those sites are notorious for selling and distributing your information. Heck – YOU are notorious for posting everything you do in your life on all of them so that it gets plastered all over the internet. Secondly, if you are one of those people that subscribe to those sites and you also complain about your privacy and rights – again, shut the fuck up. They are all also notorious for having terrible privacy policies and it’s well-known. So don’t whine to me about it.

Now here is my other tip with regards to SPAM – if it’s a legitimate business site, such as Target, and you recently placed an order and suddenly you are getting offers from them it’s probably OK to click on the unsubscribe link. Most of the time, that works. But, if it’s Bob’s House of Sex Toys and they are trying to sell you some Viagra, a tube of Sex Lube, a cattle prod, and a coupon for two hours of time with Belinda the Dominatrix Midget then don’t click on the unsubscribe link. In fact, don’t click on anything! They aren’t going to unsubscribe you and by clicking on the link you just verified they have a good email address.

Now about those telemarketers – there are some federal laws and guidelines that telemarketers have to abide by. Go look them up and read them. Don’t pass around the latest bullshit anti-telemarketing email that some goofball wrote at 2:38 am in their mom’s basement.

For the most part, you can politely, but sternly, tell these people to not call you and take you off their list. If they do it again, they are subject to a fine and a lawsuit, but if you don’t follow up on it it’s your fault.

Next – don’t answer the phone. If the phone rings while you are about to stuff those peas into your face and you see “unlisted” or a number you don’t recognize don’t freaking answer the phone. Let it go to VM or your answering machine if you haven’t been lucky enough to get out from under your rock.

Stop signing up for those stupid “You can Win this Corvette” things at the mall. You can’t win so forget it. Yes, they have to give one away by law, but they also just got ALL of your information along with a million other people and what do you think they do with it? They sell it. That’s how they make their money. So if it’s worth it to have a 1-in-a-100-million chance at the Chrysler Minivan, and be subject to 500 calls a day by someone in another country by all means, sign up.

Last? Change your phone number. It’s not that hard. And it’s not that hard to give it out to those people you want to have it. I love my parents, but I go over to their house and their phone rings no less than 5 times an hour while I am over there – all of it is telemarketers. They’ve had the same number since Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and the entire world has it. You probably have it and don’t even know it. So what do they do? They use their cell phones and just let the phone ring and ring and ring. Not sure how they do it because it would drive me crazy.