OT: Banning Robocalls (one guy is trying to make it happen)!

[beachmom]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8742.html

Back in 2004, Fannie Mae executive Shaun Dakin quit his job and boarded a bus to Cleveland to volunteer for John F. Kerry’s presidential campaign. “I wanted to do something that would make a difference,” he recalls.

But midway into working the phone banks for Kerry, Dakin became disillusioned. “People would say, ‘I’m sick of these calls. I’m going to teach you guys a lesson and vote for Bush!’” The other volunteers were getting the same hostile responses. “We decided we could help the campaign more if we just went and got a beer,” Dakin said.

Three years later, Dakin has devoted his professional life to fighting the political campaign calls he used to make. It’s an unusual cause but not an entirely implausible one. A study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press showed that 24 percent of voters nationwide had received robocalls as of early December, well before the real campaigning started. Of those, 65 percent said they normally hang up, and 24 percent of those who hung up said the calls made them “angry.”

And robocall technology is only getting more advanced. One firm told Politico that it can now place 1 million calls in less than a half-hour. “Some days, we call 10 to 20 percent of the U.S. population,” an executive at the firm said.

To combat the calls, Dakin launched a nonprofit group in October, the National Political Do Not Call Registry. “I thought, ‘I’m spent with red versus blue politics of the past 20 years. How can I be part of the solution?’” Dakin said.




http://www.stoppoliticalcalls.org/index.php

He's trying to get members of Congress to sign a "Do Not Robocall Pledge". I think his website is trying to end all calls; that might be taking it too far. But certainly robocalls need to go. When I phonebanked in '06, I also lost a vote because I called a lady Sunday at 5 PM, and she thought that was extremely rude. I was really embarrassed by this, and am reticent to phone bank again. It IS annoying to get all of those calls. But if we could eliminate the robocalls, perhaps the volunteers wouldn't be shouted at as much. And as we discussed before, door to door is the best method of getting votes.

[karynnj]

1. This article is conflating the robocalls with the calls by people

to identify supporters. It is a very interesting idea, but this is an extremely badly written article. I actually have wondered how effective the calls are, but there were occasionally people willing to bring up an issue that they were concerned with that could be defused by giving information.

The robocalls don't do this and I have to admit that I kind of like the ones by peopel I like. It was kind of cool hearing a message from Caroline Kennedy in 2004.

[beachmom]

2. Yeah, but you're a political junkie. :) The problem is the 1 million calls

in a half hour. Beyond ridiculous. Since they abused the system, I just think robocalls need to go. They're too cheap and easy. But if volunteers call, then that is different. That means somebody is volunteering their time, and is willing to participate in the political process. It is organic, and I don't think it should be banned. I just think that political campaigns should help the phone bankers more (I got about ZERO training) and limit the time frame for the calls. Getting rid of the telemarketer calls was probably the greatest achievement of the government since Bush came into office. And it was a major grassroots campaign with millions of Americans demanding it. I would like to see how people feel about political robocalls -- someone needs to poll this question (lol, which will require a pollster to call people!).

[karynnj]

3. I agree with you, even though I liked that one

Even as a political junkie, they DO get annoying when you are busy.