How to fight back:
If you get these calls, do the following:
Hang up, count to five seconds "(one thousand one, one thousand two", etc.), then go off-hook again to try to get a new dial tone for placing an outgoing call. If you cannot get a new dial tone, i.e. the robocaller is still there, make a note of it. Hanging up and then getting silence on the line is not sufficient: you have to get a new dial tone, and if you don't, that may help prosecute these cases. If you don't get a new dial tone in 5 seconds, hang up again and count off 10 seconds. If that doesn't work, hang up again and count 20 seconds. Everything after 5 or at most 7 seconds is illegal, period. Take careful notes.
Make sure you are getting their caller ID. Almost every caller ID product has a feature that lets you scroll back over incoming calls, so when you answer a call you don't have to write the number down. Your caller ID device will have a record of the date, time, and caller's number. All you need to do is glance at the screen to be sure something is being recorded. After the call is over, go back and write down what is on the screen. You may see "private" or "no data sent" or a weird-looking string of digits such as 111-111-1111 that cannot be an actual telephone number (there will never be a 0 or 1 at the beginning of a legitimate area code or prefix).
If you get a dialable phone number, call it back, and make note of what answers. If you each an automated message, listen to the whole thing and write down any identifying information verbatim. If you want to record these calls, go to Radio Snack, they have home recorder-connectors; it is not illegal to record a call that itself is a recorded voice. (The law requires consent to record (one-party consent in some states, two-party in others); a person who has made a recorded announcement has already given consent in order to make the annuoncement. Thus you can record their recording.)
If a robocall ends up in your voicemail or on your answering machine, save it. Voiceprints can be identified with extraordinary precision so a recording can be used to identify the person's voice, and thus prove the name of the entity for whom they were working, later in the event of legal action. Make a backup copy of the messages by recording it onto audio tape or your hard drive.
Also any time you get a campaign or polling call the first question you should ask is, what organization are you calling from? and then, what is the telephone number of that organization? Write it down. It appears that in some cases, people who have responded to poll questions in certain ways have immediately been put into robocall lists and gotten a bunch of harassing calls in a row. If a live campaign person calls you and does not provide satisfactory information, that fact itself is of interest. Also if the number they give you does not match the caller ID you receive, make note of that. In some cases this is legit: home phone-banks, i.e. people calling from home for an organization. In other cases this may lead to discovering more fraud, i.e. Rs claiming to be from a D organization.
What we need:
Federal regulation (FCC) that simply bans ALL use of predictive dialers, automated dialers, and recorded broadcast messages except as used by public safety agencies (for example to call residents of an area to order an evacuation, as for example in a hazmat incident). There is no other legitimate use of these machines, and telemarketers wishing to cut costs should have no standing. Once this regulation is in effect, all telemarketers will face the level playing field of having the same cost structure, so it will not place some at a competitive advantage over others.
I'll provide free consultation
On this and other telephony-related issues for any legitimate Democratic party organization or related entity. I've also successfully done expert witness on a telecom-related case. If you represent an organization that has been affected by these robo-calls, i.e. a Congressional campaign or whatever, and you want to get in touch, post an email address or phone number where you can be reached. I'll be able to return calls this evening (Sunday evening) and between 1pm and 6pm on Monday.
UPDATES
==Update 1==
Something else you can do: FIRST THING MONDAY morning: Call your local Telco business office and subscribe to the Call Trace feature. This will cost you about $5 per month but it will capture calls that do not show on Caller ID, and turn the number over to Telco Security for investigation. You have to agree to press charges. You might also have to file a police report before they will turn on the feature. Police departments in progressie jurisdictions may be more amenable to this than in hardcore R jurisdictions.
In SBC/AT&T areas in California, residential business office is 1-800-288-2020, and for business subscribers, 1-800-750-BELL (BELL = 2355 on your dial). If you're not sure, dial 0 for Operator and ask for the number.
How it works: You receive a harassing call. You hang up, and then before the phone rings again, you pick up, listen for dialtone, and dial a specific feature code that your telco will provide for you. This causes the telco central office to immediately trace the correct originating number for the call. Then you file a police report on harassing calls, and this enables Telco Security to provide the phone number to the police for further action.
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