---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <F3D353B7-64E4-4686-9EB5-7FC224A19EE5@roscom.com> Date: Thu, 11 May 2017 11:09:28 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Are Robocalls Flooding Your Cellphone? Here's the cure Robocalls Flooding Your Cellphone? Here's How to Stop Them By CHRISTOPHER MELE An unfamiliar number appears on your cellphone. It's from your area code, so you answer it, thinking it might be important. There is an unnatural pause after you say hello, and what follows is a recording telling you how you can reduce your credit card interest rates or electric bill or prescription drug costs or any of a number of other sales pitches. ... Experts recommend a multifaceted approach: Don't answer unknown numbers, use call-blocking apps and report unwanted calls to the government. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/11/smarter-living/stop-robocalls.html ***** Moderator's Note ***** I don't agree with the 'experts' the article mentions. I have a different approach, which has been recommended by a number of newspaper columnists, radio personalities, and by me. Take one for the team. I think you should answer the call, and hang on until you get to talk to a human being. Stretch the call out as long as you can, and then politely say that you're not interested. /THAT/ will get you on their don't dial list faster than a nuclear bomb aimed at Bombay: the purveyors of this kind of come-on don't care about what /you/ want, but they care a lot about how much time /their/ employees spend on a call. You've already been molested, and already had your time wasted. Take one for the team, and tie up their one irreplaceable resource for as long as you can. If everyone did it, the entire industry would be out of business in a month. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <B5392F2A-9EFC-42DD-9C42-71A7DE07F160@roscom.com> Date: Tue, 9 May 2017 22:46:18 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: John Oliver may have spurred 150,000 comments to FCC John Oliver's Net neutrality campaign may have spurred 150,000 comments to FCC by Mike Snider and Elizabeth Weise Nearly 200,000 people have already commented on net neutrality to the Federal Communications Commission - many likely spurred on by HBO's John Oliver. The comedian and host of the premium pay-TV channel's "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver" on Sunday urged viewers to go to the FCC's web site to voice their support for current net neutrality regulations passed in 2015. The FCC had prepared for a new round of public comment after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last month began the process of reconsidering the net neutrality rules, which require Internet service providers to treat all legal content equally. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/05/09/john-oliver-may-have-helped-spur-150000-comments-fcc-net-neutrality/101480100/ ***** Moderator's Note ***** The most important part of the story isn't mentioned in the USA Today article: it's the tiny little detail of *HOW* Mr. Oliver got so many Netizens to visit the FCC site. In the HBO video, Mr. Oliver gave his viewers two URL's which shorten the process of making a comment to the FCC: both <http://justtellmeifimrelatedtoanazi.com> and <http://gofccyourself.com/> will redirect viewers to - <https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/proceedings?q=name:((17-108))>, where they may clink on the "+Express" link on the right side of the screen to leave a comment. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <3032806A-A54D-476A-BB9F-16657AE788BD@roscom.com> Date: Mon, 8 May 2017 22:26:46 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Data Crunchers Ask New Yorkers: How Are the Police Doing? CompStat will send New Yorkers questions on their smartphones to see if they feel safe, if they trust the police and if they are confident in the department. By Al Baker It was a policing invention with a futuristic sounding name - CompStat - when the New York Police Department introduced it as a management system for fighting crime in an era of much higher violence in the 1990s. Police departments around the country, and the world, adapted its system of mapping muggings, robberies and other crimes; measuring police activity; and holding local commanders accountable. Now, a quarter-century later, it is getting a broad reimagining and being brought into the mobile age. Moving away from simple stats and figures, CompStat is getting touchy-feely. It's going to ask New Yorkers - via thousands of questions on their phones - "How are you feeling?" and "How are we, the police, doing?" https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/nyregion/nypd-compstat-crime-mapping.html ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Fri, 12 May 2017