Re: It's a great new year! telemarketers and solicitors

At 11:06 PM 1/9/97 -0500, relia@juno.com wrote:
...
> You have the RIGHT to have negative
>information removed in many instances. My partner and I have put together
>an easy to read, easy to use manual that will explain your rights and may help
>you restore your credit to A+ status. Why pay an attorney $2,000 or some 
>credit counselor $500 or more to do exactly what you can do for yourself?
>
>For less than $15, you can help yourself to better credit. We'll give you
>all the tools you need and explain exactly what to do.
...
>You've probably seen other offers or similar credit repair packages that
>promise overnight results. Anyone who promises a quick overnight fix is
>*lying* to you. It takes time and perseverance to fix your bad credit. 
>But, it can be done!
...
>Don't get ripped off and don't take bad advice that encourages you to break
>the law! Our system WORKS! Our credit repair manual will show you step by
>step how to do it yourself - and it's not hard to do!
...
> We purchased a
>mailing list of folks who should be interested in various products that
>we produce, but mailing lists can be wrong, and we don't want to take your
>time again unnecessarily.  Thanks for your help!
>
I understand that freedom of speech is a basic right, and I understand the
nature of public discourse which is unhindered being more valuable, even if
the signal to noise ratio is higher.
I also subscribe to the idea that in a forum where only speech is possible,
a persons use of that speech is the representation of that person.  (Not
that it never is otherwise.)
What I'm trying to get at is, when does freedom of speech in a "speech only"
environment" become soliciting?  To me, though it is only my opinion, it
seems that a telemarketer wishing to offer wares to a group on a mailing
list should get permission from the lists maintainer.  I apologize if this
is already the case, as my accusations would be pointless.
To me, it seems to be a breach of conduct for a company to use a mailing
list that is not thier own as a mass mailing technique.
Again, these are only my personal opinions.

Sean Roach wrote:

> To me, it seems to be a breach of conduct for a company to use a mailing
> list that is not thier own as a mass mailing technique.
> Again, these are only my personal opinions.

  It's called 'whoring' (for money, i.e. prostitution).
  In case you haven't noticed, the InterNet is the new 'Gold Rush'.
Every hustler and kook from here (wherever 'this' is) to Butt Fuck,
Montana, is jumping on the 'Information Highway' to get their piece
of the action.
  The whores don't just include the "Make $$$Money$$$ Fast" spammers.
The Big Boys with the Big Toys want to make sure that our personal
information and Web History is available for them to try to squeeze
every possible penny out of our pockets.
  With the 'wonder of modern technology' at their fingertips, however,
the 'common man/woman' can also avail themselves of the plethora of
information lying within reach of their sticky little fingers.

  Big Brother wants to know everything about everybody, and if the
average user gets tired of Little Brother getting ahold of the 
information, then I am sure that Big Brother will come to our
rescue, passing laws and instituting regualtions that 'save' us
by ensuring that only Big Brother knows all.

Toto