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Ever wonder how telemarketers get your number
or why you get so much junk mail?
It's easy!   Here are some examples (with more to follow).

1/10/02  Qwest (like other phone companies) sell information about who you call, to junkers.
        It seems that Qwest is doing it again: Pretending to be a privacy good-guy, while hawking your private information to junk callers and junk mailers.
        Everything a telephone company knows about you (its customer) that's not published in the phone directory, can be sold by them to junk callers and junk mailers... unless you tell them not to.
        This information includes your:  
Billing name, address and phone numbers(s)
Current telephone charges.
If you forward your calls, who you forward them to.
Directory service charges.
Billing summary.
Long distance billing record:
        Who you call
        When you call them
        How often you call them
        How long you talk to them.
        Qwest will sell/share this information with junk callers and junk mailers unless its customers tell them not to.
As required by federal law, Qwest notified its customers of their right to 'opt-out'. In that regard, Qwest sent these notifications in billing envelopes. The notices advised customers that they could opt-out by calling a telephone number set up for such opt-out requests or opt-out via a specific opt-out web site.
        The problem is that, the web site commonly did not work, and when someone called the phone number, they commonly got a busy signal or found themselves on the phone with a belligerent Qwest employee, who tried to sell the caller additional services. 

5/17/98 Junk Mailers / Callers have a hissy fit when politicians protect our privacy
        When Illinois Secretary of State George Ryan stopped the sale of drivers' license and motor vehicle registration data to junk mailers and junk callers the direct marketing industry responded with class... all low.
         In an article published in Direct Magazine (a junk call/mail trade publication), editor Ray Schultz referred to Secretary Ryan as a "dishonest, publicity-seeking fraud" and then went on to say, "Clowns like Ryan ought to know that every time they take a cheap shot against direct marketing, they'll pay a political price."
         Private Citizen's response:  Ray, settle down. Your just a direct marketing sycophant spouting school yard insults at someone who's trying to protect my privacy. Shove your 'cheap shots' back from where you got them.

3/27/98  Ken Star doesn't need a warrant: he uses the direct marketing industry
        Whitewater Special Prosecutor Kenneth Star was able to circumvent the Fourth Amendment this week as he accessed Monica Lewinsky's book buying records from the merchants from whom she purchases books. No warrant was needed, just cash! The direct marketing industry's business is to sell private information about citizens. Information which would otherwise be unavailable to law enforcement.

3/26/98 Washington State passes the nation's first anti-spam law
        This bill will allow recipients of unsolicited commercial e-mail, which violates the law, to collect $500 from each such spammer. The law took effect June 27, 1998 and makes it a violation for spammers to send e-mail which hides its point of origin, mask the transmission path, or contains misleading 'subject line' information. These prohibitions apply to those who use computers within the state, or have reason to know that the recipient is within the state. More can be found at: http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/junk_032698.html

1/19/98   The Pope Speaks... then he sells your name and address to junk mailers.
        Direct Mail Marketing, Inc. sells a list of subscribers to 'The Pope Speaks', a journal of papal statements and letters translated into english.

1/19/98   Folks in the state of Maryland say "NO" to the sale of their information!
        A federal law known as the Drivers Privacy Protection Act requires states that sell driver's license or motor vehicle registration information to allow folks to prohibit the sale of their personal information to junk mailers and junk callers. If the state does not make such an 'opt-out' provision available to individuals, the state itself is prohibited from selling information on any of its registrants
       In the state of Maryland there has been a lot of publicity concerning this law and the ability of Maryland residents to prevent the sale of their personal information by the state. As a result, by the end of November 1997, opt-off requests have been coming in at a rate of 50,000 per week.

1/05/98   Let's see... who should we kidnap today?  
        Are you affluent and Jewish? Do you know where your children are?  Name-Finders Lists, Inc. is selling a list of Jewish families with an average income of $70,000.  The list contains their income and addresses, as well as the age and sex of their children.

1/05/98   Colonel Sanders!  What are you doing to those children?
        Alliance Marketing Group (AMG) of Fairfield CT is a firm that specializes in junk mail campaigns to children. It's not bad enough that we get junk mail as soon as we move into our own place. Now, firms like AMG start burying our children with junk mail. As stated by AMG's VP, "We did a number of projects for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Quaker and Kraft."
         Presently, AMG is planning a junk mail campaign to kids aged 6 to 11 years old, hitting them up for $20 each to join the 'Pet Savers Club' which is run by the North Shore Animal League of Port Washington NY. When we contacted, the League was unable to tell us how much of that $20 would actually go to help the animals, and how much would go to pay executive salaries. Nor could they tell us where they get the kids' names and addresses from.

11/5/97   What's your income? You won't tell friends, but some Europeans know. 
    In November of 1996 the British company that sells Burberry coats purchased credit reports on 190 million Americans from TRW Credit Data Inc. Your credit history may be one of those sold to this foreign corporation.
         Are you curious as to why a foreign clothier now 'owns' the financial profiles of 190 million Americans?  Would you be interested in details about the reach of US consumer protections for credit reports? Want to know how the British company might use this credit information?
         Well, if you want to find out, ask Experian, (the new name of TRW, Inc.) about all the private information they have on file about you. Experian is now owned by Great Universal Stores of England.  Who knows... an outfit in Columbia will by another US data collection firm. What those 'drug' marketers will do with the  data is anyone's guess.  Unless we do something fast, your private life may someday be sold to criminals.

8/14/97     US West uses The Walter Karl Co. to sell its phone subscriber list
        U S West, a Denver-based telephone company has selected a new list broker (The Walter Karl Comp.) to sell its list of telephone subscribers. The list is comprised of 8.4 million consumers in 14 West and Midwest states. Walter Karl already sells Ameritech's (Chicago based phone company) telephone lists, and brags that they have "increased its list revenue about 50 percent in the last 36 months."
         Walter Karl has helped junk callers buy telephone lists based on where the televictim lives (zip code selects) and how long he/she has had a telephone (one ad for Ameritech's "new-movers" phone lists touted, "Now you can reach them while their still unpacking")
         Walter Karl is adding more information to help telenuisance firms barge into your home. Information like household income, presence of children, and children's age. Just what you need - a telenuisance attack as soon as you move in... brought to you by Ameritech, US West and The Walter Karl Company.

8/11/97   So what if you can't walk?   Just answer the phone!
        Folks confined to wheelchairs, 185,000 of them, are having their phone numbers sold to junk callers, along with their age, gender, income level, address and more.  Just imagine... a handicapped resident hears the phone ring, struggles to get to it, and is then presented with a telenuisance call.  I guess it proves that, no matter how bad things may be, they can always get worse.

6/2/97   Glamour Shots takes aim at your privacy
        The Glamour Shots slogan is; "We Bring Out Your Best ... Then We Take Your Picture".  But their slogan would be complete if it went on to say; "After that, we'll sell your personal and private information." That's because they're selling personal information about the 580,000 young women (including their phone numbers) who had their pictures taken there last year.  If you're a Glamour Shots customer, you paid them to take your picture. You did not pay them to take your privacy!

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