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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#36301: Nov 1st 2012 at 12:22:27 PM

A Virginia firm named CcAdvertising has been linked to a wave of anti-Obama text message spam. This is not the first time they've been in trouble for exploiting loopholes in an FCC rule designed to prevent text messaging without the consent of the user.

Technical details: Apparently, every phone has an associated email address that can be used to send it text messages. It is not illegal to "spray and pray" by sending emails to random addresses that might possibly resolve to a live cell phone. You aren't technically sending texts, violating Do Not Call, or using an "opt-in" email list without consent.

The company is associated with a man named Jason Flanary, a previous failed GOP candidate for Virginia's state senate. He has been disavowed by several Republican groups but continues to unabashedly spam people with email-to-text messages, a trick he first used during that state senate bid.

edited 1st Nov '12 12:23:25 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Qeise Professional Smartass from sqrt(-inf)/0 Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Waiting for you *wink*
Professional Smartass
#36302: Nov 1st 2012 at 1:23:20 PM

A Virginia firm named Cc Advertising has been linked to a wave of anti-Obama text message spam. This is not the first time they've been in trouble for exploiting loopholes in an FCC rule designed to prevent text messaging without the consent of the user.
If I remember correctly from the phone thread at least some of you guys pay for received as well as sent texts?

edited 1st Nov '12 1:23:43 PM by Qeise

Laws are made to be broken. You're next, thermodynamics.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#36303: Nov 1st 2012 at 1:25:09 PM

That is correct. Recipients pay for incoming text messages, whether they are solicited or not. You can get plans that include either a set limit of monthly texts or an "unlimited" texting plan, which absorbs the costs, but they are still tallied on your account.

"Pay as you go" plans typically charge you per text by deducting an amount from your prepaid minutes; my wife's phone deducts 0.3 minutes per text, which resolves to anywhere from 1 to 3 cents if I remember correctly.

"Naked" plans without any texting component may charge 10 to 20 cents per text.

edited 1st Nov '12 1:28:02 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#36304: Nov 1st 2012 at 1:25:35 PM

Yes.

I'm lucky I haven't yet received one.

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#36305: Nov 1st 2012 at 1:27:20 PM

Doesn't that class it as fraud (and, I don't mean in the electioneering sense, but the straight-up theft sense)?

edited 1st Nov '12 1:28:04 PM by Euodiachloris

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#36306: Nov 1st 2012 at 1:31:14 PM

Regulatory agencies have historically been very reluctant to classify unsolicited communications of any sort - email, fax, text message, etc., as fraud. An office I worked at many years ago used to get dozens of junk faxes each day despite the FCC explicitly banning them. Unsolicited phone calls are prosecuted fairly harshly since the Do Not Call registry was put into place, and it's always been illegal to place unsolicited calls to cell phones (with the typical exemptions for political polling), but they still happen. Laws preventing email spam may as well not exist.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#36307: Nov 1st 2012 at 1:32:34 PM

If all that reluctance is down to free speech laws, I'd love to point out that if you're paying for the crud, it ain't free. tongue

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#36308: Nov 1st 2012 at 1:35:59 PM

You'd think. Unfortunately there is a long precedent in this country of advertisers being allowed to do pretty much whatever they want. Only recently have there been attempts to curb these practices, and mainly only when enough consumers get fed up with it that Congress and/or the FCC are forced to act for fear of losing their jobs over it.

"Do Not Call" was the end result of a massive public outcry and even then it had some teeth pulled at the last minute, with exemptions for political and charity calls. Plus, any company that you've done business with at any time in the past 6 months can call you unless you explicitly request otherwise.

We should refocus on the election, mind you.

edited 1st Nov '12 1:44:22 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#36309: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:23:51 PM

Chrysler executive tweets that Donald Trump is 'full of @%#!' over Jeep accusation

edited 1st Nov '12 4:24:56 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#36310: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:32:45 PM

Late Super PAC Ad Buy Urges African Americans In Ohio To Vote Republican Because Lincoln Freed The Slaves

We may have hit rock bottom.

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
johnnyfog Actual Wrestling Legend from the Zocalo Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
Actual Wrestling Legend
#36311: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:34:40 PM

[up] This is a step above "some of my best friends are black!"

I'm a skeptical squirrel
BestOf FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC! from Finland Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Falling within your bell curve
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
#36312: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:35:43 PM

To avoid double-posting, you should edit new stuff into your latest post if it's the last one in the thread.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
RadicalTaoist scratching at .8, just hopin' from the #GUniverse Since: Jan, 2001
scratching at .8, just hopin'
#36313: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:46:07 PM

Dude, they would have eviscerated Lincoln today over his opposition to states' rights.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
johnnyfog Actual Wrestling Legend from the Zocalo Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
Actual Wrestling Legend
#36314: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:49:34 PM

Well, do we know that for a fact? I mean, Lincoln is a controversial figure for a reason. People have a point when they say that Lincoln had no basis for stopping the south from succeeding (the morality of slavery is immaterial). He was open in his lack of regard for blacks and only emancipated them as a weapon. Heck, even Lincoln supported succession when he was a lowly lawyer; he just changed his opinions when he saw an opportunity for unprecedented power and immortality.

In that sense, he's the ideal Republican President.

edited 1st Nov '12 4:56:12 PM by johnnyfog

I'm a skeptical squirrel
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#36315: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:50:39 PM

When i see that Lincoln ad, the first thing i thought of was:

"You can reply to this Message!"
Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#36316: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:52:05 PM

[up][up]

ecven so. this ad is going to come off to the average black voter as "you owe us for 150 years ago even though we've essentially put you back into slavery ever since"

johnnyfog Actual Wrestling Legend from the Zocalo Since: Apr, 2010 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
Actual Wrestling Legend
#36317: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:54:51 PM

Well, okay, I'm just saying that we'll never know what Lincoln's motives were (maybe he really was a saint, or just a pragmatic politician). It's not completely incongruous for him to be embraced by Republicans, even though the Libertarian wing hates him on principle.

Remember, Conservatives want a really powerful government, despite what they always say, they just don't want it looking out for the poor.

I'm a skeptical squirrel
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#36318: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:55:54 PM

[up][up] I actually find the "I have a major revelation for black americans" part a bit...don't really know how to describe it in english...arrogant sounding.

it just feels a lot like that they are implying that african-americans are stupid...conscious or not.

edited 1st Nov '12 4:56:03 PM by 3of4

"You can reply to this Message!"
Thorn14 Gunpla is amazing! Since: Aug, 2010
Gunpla is amazing!
#36319: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:57:57 PM

I doubt this will sway the vote of a single African American.

Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#36320: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:58:35 PM

[up][up]

To be fair. The average tea party republican, at least in my state, does assume anyone who votes liberal is stupid. Every time I try to debate them calmly they proceed to condescend to me.

Black people they especially tend to regard as stupid, lazy, and stuck in the projects out of their own mistakes.

edited 1st Nov '12 4:59:41 PM by Midgetsnowman

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#36321: Nov 1st 2012 at 4:59:15 PM

Maybe it'll sway people away from the republicans.

[up] condescend. That was the word I was searching...

edited 1st Nov '12 4:59:53 PM by 3of4

"You can reply to this Message!"
DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#36322: Nov 1st 2012 at 5:00:07 PM

[up][up][up][up][up][up]

The South sent soldiers into the the territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma despite none of them voting to succeed from the Union.

Plus they tried to invade Kentucky despite its Declaration of Neutrality.

Lincoln's actions were justified.

edited 1st Nov '12 5:00:49 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#36323: Nov 1st 2012 at 5:03:22 PM

Didn't we do the whole Civil War derail a fifty pages back? *raises eyebrow*

"You can reply to this Message!"
BestOf FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC! from Finland Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Falling within your bell curve
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
#36324: Nov 1st 2012 at 5:03:50 PM

[up]Hear, hear!

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
LostAnarchist Violence Is Necessary! from Neo Arcadia Itself Since: Sep, 2011
Violence Is Necessary!
#36325: Nov 1st 2012 at 5:05:08 PM

It's on now - Democrat/Independent all the way for me (a black man,btw)! Don't anyone try to sway me, either... Thank you.

edited 1st Nov '12 5:05:27 PM by LostAnarchist

This is where I, the Vampire Mistress, proudly reside: http://liberal.nationstates.net/nation=nova_nacio

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