Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Officer ruled today that automated phone calls, featuring a recorded message from Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, broke privacy rules. From the BBC:
The Lib Dems, who made 250,000 of the calls last week, have been issued with an enforcement notice after complaints to the commissioner’s office.
Senior Lib Dems had insisted the calls would not break any rules as they were for “genuine market research purposes”.
Why do they ban such calls? Because they’re annoying, said Deputy Information Commissioner David Smith.
“Hello, this is Homer Simpson, calling on behalf of the Tory Party. If you people in Englandland wish me to stop calling you at 3am in the morning, then send five quid – pssst! Hey Marge! What’s a quid? – to your local Tory Party headquarters, and make sure you vote Tory on election day. This has been a recording!
(Who’s this ‘Tory’ lady anyway?)
DAAAAD! I NEED TO USE THE PHONE!
D’Oh!”
what a great justification for implementing a law; because it’s annoying. the US would be so much better if we did that more often. (and so much worse!)
i guess it would then be illegal to be a freshman in high school!
Surely, there was no “criminal intent”, and there was “implied consent” from the voters (with the messages benefitting their partcicpation in the UK democratic process)?
Seems to suit the powers that be in other cases.
If only the US would ban all unsolicited phone calls, regardless of whether there’s a human on the line or not. I don’t think that the FOP should have the ability to call me asking for money. I pay their salaries with my tax dollars. The political calls are ridiculous though. I not only get pre-recorded calls from candidates, I also get pre-recorded calls from Miss America simply telling me to vote. They all need to end.
Yep, annoying alright. But my question is; “Do these calls work at all?”. They are so annoying I’m almost convinced that the calls are set-up and funded by the other party. How many votes have ben lost by seriously pissing people off with this sort of crap? I know that all we BB-reading, right-thinking people aren’t influenced in such a manner about something as important as our vote; but is everyone as conscientious as us?
My position is that they shouldn’t be banned, but just shown to be useless (or damaging) and they will go away of their own accord. Again, The Simpsons lead the way – remember when Springfield made all those rampaging giant ad logos self-destruct by ignoring them?
what a fantastic way to annoy and patronise potential voters. well done lib dems
Well, if you’re harrassed by a real live telemarketer, don’t forget how to annoy them with a single word:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh4EPcOpSy8
Oh well, that’s another party Cory can’t vote for now.
Not much left.
Sad.