Phone spam
In the beginning there was no spam. Or well, maybe there was, but no one wrote about it.
And then people who wanted to sell stuff decided that the best way to sell it was to let everyone know. So there began bulk mailing and literally junk mail.
With communications moving on to the internet, the junk mail developed into junk email. The general cluelessness of many email users, coupled with clever scams (e.g. “Win a free iphone, mail this to ten friends with WinAFreeIfone@gmail.com in the cc field”) led to many people receiving loads of junk email. Thankfully, filters can be put in place to stop that.
With attention turning to mobile devices, we started getting text messages from people. From New year greetings from the top, to updates on the latest Metered Three Wheeler service in town.
And now, we have the phone call spammer. Cold calling at its coldest. You get a call on your phone, which you answer since the number is not a known one. “Hello…” you start, only to find out that instead of a human being on the other end, you’ve got a little recording telling you stuff you didn’t know you were going to hear. So far its been about Star Points and Leasing, but I guess anything else is possible.
In an age of limited attention spans and crowded media outlets, is this really the way forward for companies – telecoms, advertisers and agencies? I hope not. After all, who’s going to decide how many ads per phone per day?
I’m not very impressed. My phone is for people – real people – to contact me. Not some automaton trying to sell me something. And besides, how do I know whether an incoming call is genuine or automated? I’m going to be annoyed by every new phone number that turns up on the CLI…