I'm an optimist. I need to be an optimist. So when I found myself wishing my cell phone was a little more intelligent earlier today I started thinking of the non-obvious things it can do thanks to services like Jott, Slydial and Google 411 and decided to go looking for more. The obvious starting point was Lifehacker and they did not disappoint. I quickly found an article full of nifty service tricks (although I still couldn't do half because I can't send/receive texts) one of which was a service that would call you with one of several half conversations at the time you specified so that people around you would hear someone on your phone and you'd be able to respond naturally should you be in need of a fake phone call. While I appreciate ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) violetdusk calling and pretending to be my boyfriend when some creep at the coffee shop wouldn't leave me alone (<3 C ) it probably would have worked better if I wasn't hiding the fact that the person on the other end of the line was female. This service had some great potential!
I clicked over to Popularity Dialer and was greeted on the front page by this notice
November 28, 2007
Dear Friends,
Many of you have asked us about the "down for maintenance" banner we posted on the website on September 26th. The real issue, which we initially hoped to sort out quickly, is that the FCC (the Federal Communications Commission) served us with a citation stating that we violated section "227(b)(1)(A)" of the Communications of 1934 and section "64.1200(a)(1)" of the Commission's rules. Thus, we've taken the functionality of the site down until we hear back regarding our appeal.
The citation arose when a senior attorney for the FCC received an unrequested popularitydialer call on her cell phone and then filed a complaint. The main issue at hand is that people in the US pay for their incoming cell minutes so if they receive calls they don't request, they still have to pay for them. We've talked to a few lawyers who said the real issue is finding out what the FCC considers "express consent" regarding agreeing to incoming cell phones calls from a website.
Interestingly, there isn't much a precedent in this context because there are relatively few projects/companies that use web-to-phone as their method of execution. We do not verify phone numbers on our site before we make the call, but neither do the other venues that have similar services. When we initially contacted the FCC to see if we could work things out they sent the following:
"Mr. Forsyth,
I don't see how a website falls within the jurisdiction of the FCC or how it would cause TCPA violations. We would not give any advice on how to legally continue the operation of your business. That would have to come from your own attorney. "
Apparently, the FCC has no idea why our website should have resulted in the citation they handed us.
Also a weird twist, the phone call upon which the citation was based was requested from an FAA (Federal Aviation Administation) IP address. Thus, the call was both elected and received by employees of goverment agencies. It seems a little strange.
Why the FCC doesn't have better things to do with its time than shut down a student-founded project is beyond our understanding. In the meantime, standby and keep your fingers crossed.
We delivered our appeal to the FCC weeks ago. Hopefully, we'll get some news soon.
Thanks to the various members of the telephony community and the lawyers that have helped out with the appeal.
Love and Popularity,
Jenny and Cory
There was also a link to a scan of the citation seen below.
Really? It should have taken less than a minute for the lawyer to recognize the call was a recording and hang up. I will be happy to send this lady a dime if she will stop the nonsense. I feel this offer is quite generous as one minute costs less than ten cents on every contract plan I've ever seen and I seriously doubt this lady is rocking the pick up more minutes at 7-11 type of phone. There is no question that this an abuse of power. We all receive calls we don't want. Many of us sensibly avoid these calls by not answering when we don't know the number but everyone has at some point received a call from someone with the wrong number, giggling prepubescent girls who hang up, and/or teenage boys destined to spend many lonely nights on 4chan who think Arnold Schwarzenegger soundboards are funny. We don't then file complaints with the freaking Federal Communications Commission because someone dared to waste 30 seconds of our life. If you answer the phone you are consenting to the call. If you want to withdraw your consent you hang up. This really isn't that complicated.
Aside from the absoludicrousness (Thanks Mr. T) of the situation what caught my eye here was the FCC saying they didn't have jurisdiction over a website. There's a chance this will all blow over and the site will be fine. I was just saying a couple days ago that one of the reasons I oppose net neutrality is that the FCC is in favor of it and I don't want them anywhere near the internet. Can you imagine this case if they did have jurisdiction? An agency that can both regulate the internet and decide on punishment for infractions? There's no way it's worth the trade off. |
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Jun. 15th, 2009 @ 02:51 am
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I spent a lot of time reading logs today and I must say I love you guys SBRN. |
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Katie
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Apr. 6th, 2009 @ 04:40 pm
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A friend of mine joined a Facebook Group for stripping the Mormon Church of their tax exempt status. I asked why and she said because of political lobbying. The following is a paste of my reply which generally gives my answer to you as well.
To be consistent on that stance one would have to strip the tax exempt status of about 75% of those that are and I'd say the obvious first place to start would be w/ the Catholics not the Mormons. It is ridiculously important that churches be tax exempt, both because of the tenant of freedom of religion but more importantly as a division of church and state. Church members are fired up about paying bills for things that go against their principals as INDIVIDUALS. Make the churches themselves pay and the whole damn thing is going to explode.
As a side note because I suspect this is about Prop 8 (although I haven't looked at the group) people are taking entirely the wrong tactic there. The WORD marriage means something religious to those with the religion. And while there's plenty of evidence that the Bible could more accurately be said to say that homosexuality is not tolerated by the community and is against their customs than to say homosexuality is actually a sin (aside from the fact that all sexual activity outside marriage is sinful ((although that itself could potentially spring from their misconceptions about reproduction- they thought women were basically incubators and the sperm WERE the babies hence the spilling the seed stuff))) plenty of people still believe that it is and that by the government allowing gay MARRIAGE that what they are allowing is a uniting by GOD against God's will of two people. It really is about the word and the use of by the government (because they believe government has the power to do these things).
This movement is going to be infinitely more successful if they look instead to PRIVATIZE marriage. Marriage from a legal standpoint is two things- a license, and a contract. This is an important distinction. The contract is the traditional part of marriage legally. It is your vows, it is what is being argued about when you go to divorce court, it's why for instance a cheating spouse will get reamed in divorce court- they failed to meet their contractual obligations! Any two (or more) people can make a contract with each other to do ANYTHING that is legally permissible (you're not getting retribution from the assassin you hired enforced in court) and have it enforced in a court of law. Article I Section 10 of the Constitution protects the right of contract and states that no state shall pass law impairing the obligation of contracts. These protected contracts (aside from the social, ceremonial and religious aspects) are what marriage was for basically forever. The second part of marriages legally- the licenses are part of what I call the "Big Three"- it is one of three laws born out of racism that are having the most obvious impact in the US today. Marriage licenses basically DID NOT EXIST before 1929. The idea of asking the government for PERMISSION to get married would have seemed ABSOLUDICROUS to people before that time. But back in the 20s the government were getting their knickers all in a bunch over something truly horrifying to them- BLACK PEOPLE WERE GETTING MARRIED TO WHITE PEOPLE!!!!!! Heavens no!!! They had to DO SOMETHING about that. So like basically all licenses marriage licenses were created in order to be able to deny some licenses. It is the LICENSE that gay people cannot get today. They cannot be denied contract enforcement. But they can't use the term marriage in those contracts because marriage requires the government's permission- which they can't get. If you do away with marriage licensing and go back to marriage being a legally binding contract with a social function and possibly religious trappings (if that's your bag) attached you will end the debate. Will the churches perform marriages for gay people? No. Most won't and they shouldn't be forced to. But can they BE married? HELL YES THEY CAN. This one is easy to get the religious community in line with too. Unlike a legalization of gay marriage licenses you are not forcing them to back with their money and the force of the state something they don't believe in, and when you take that away most people are more than reasonable enough to not care about what other people do. Even better they can be appealed to by the fact that they currently are having to interject the state into a holy communion of souls by God. It is like God having to ask the US government for permission. Abhorrent! |
From:
"kwinebre@kent.edu" <kwinebre@kent.edu>
Add sender to Contacts
To:
undisclosed-recipients
Message contains attachments
kwinebre.vcf (126b)
-----Inline Attachment Follows-----
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
(PANEL ON CONTRACT PAYMENT AND COMPENSATION)
It has been resolved by the Senate special committee on Foreign
Relations
& Debt Compensation, that a blanket sum be paid out to individuals
owed.
Beneficiaries are {1} Contractors owed by the government. {2} Victims
of
internet scam activities (you fall under this category) perpetrated by
unscrupulous people including some Nigerians.
Hence, be officially informed that (ATM Card Number 5951390123652671)
has
been accredited in your favor. Your Personal Identification Number
(PIN) is 0147.
The ATM Card Value is $100, 000.00. You are advised to contact my
secetary
with the requested data below for the delivery of your ATM at the
shortest
possible time.
NAME, MAILING ADDRESS FOR ATM DELIVERY, PHONE NUMBER, PHONE & EMAIL OF
SCAMMER WHO
DUPED (OR INTENDED TO DUPE) YOU. Please send these details to Hon. Femi
Pedro Email: pedrofemi@live.com
Sincere Regards,
Dr Kimberly C Winebrenne (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Abuja, Nigeria. |
(10:31:07 PM) Calisc: man
(10:31:13 PM) Calisc: something about the way cap speaks
(10:31:17 PM) Calisc: def rubs me the wrong way
(10:31:24 PM) Calisc: maybe its the grammer
(10:31:26 PM) Calisc: like
(10:31:30 PM) Calisc: eg
(10:31:44 PM) Calisc: [14:09:58] -Capwork- Children cramp your weekend style.
(10:31:48 PM) EvilMidge: or grammar
(10:31:49 PM) EvilMidge: whichever
(10:31:51 PM) Calisc: who capitalizes and .'s
(10:31:58 PM) Calisc: or that! |
STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 105
(Vote for ) 1
(WITH 1 OF 1 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
NO CANDIDATE FILED . . . . . . . 0
MICHAEL FRAME (DEM) . . . . . . . 0
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 1 100.00
In one district for a state rep ONE person voted on the state rep and rather than vote for the ONLY guy on the ballot HE WROTE SOMEONE IN. This person is a hero. |
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Nov. 4th, 2008 @ 11:26 am
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My polling place is magical. It's just for like one condo community so unlike everywhere else that has waiting times of at least a half hour just to get to the table where they make sure you are registered, I was behind three people. Seriously.
Some old guy was on his way out and asked me who I thought was going to win and then he started raving about how electronic voting makes it so much faster for him because after the candidates when he gets to the should judges be retained and ballot issues he just quickly pushed yes on everything. I couldn't help myself I almost fell down laughing. He was very confused but I was taking this statement and combining it w/ when I was trying to explain to Hannah that you can't tell what people voted for and no one sits there w/ a ballot like oh S/A said voted for Jack, Joe and Dave and then said yes 1 no 2 yes 3 etc. If someone actually was reading this ballot given our current ballot issues it would be pretty amazing. I know I'd be like Who IS this guy?!?!?
It got me thinking though. If someone always voted all yes or no (which yes I realize is bad) which would be worse? In MO voting all no would be superior because it'd deny the 3278249732439287 requests for funds for god knows what every election. Do you think someone voting all yes or all no would be better? |
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there is too much internet for me. I have to stop internetting and instead play Windows hearts or something because I have more tabs of stuff I want to read or write in depth replies to than anyone could possibly consider reasonable and if I don't stop myself from doing so I WILL be on the computer for days straight and not sleep and trigger a manic state and fuck up the next month. |
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Please don't select Republican for all or Democrat for all! Be honest. Unless you are a hardcore politics geek there are state offices that you do not care about at all. You don't even really know who the person running from your party is. This is your opportunity to do a good deed! 3rd parties have to petition and push to get their candidates on the ballot. In many states a 3rd party must get some percentage of the vote in a state race to maintain ballot access (not have to go through the same petition just to get their candidates on next time around). Please consider voting for third party candidates in state offices that you don't care about! |
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=D
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Oct. 26th, 2008 @ 07:27 pm
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(6:26:54 PM) trev-: i once saw a guy with 18 ranked games who had highest skill 50
(6:27:12 PM) trev-: the pros get free accounts from microsoft i think
(6:40:29 PM) Capwork: pro halo players?
(6:43:51 PM) trev-: Capwork, http://www.mlgpro.com/
(6:44:07 PM) trev-: halo is actually extremely tactical once you get up to that level
(6:44:19 PM) trev-: if you want it to be, anyway
(6:44:24 PM) trev-: otherwise its mostly just point and shoot for fun
(6:44:35 PM) trev-: like most other games
(6:46:53 PM) Capwork: Man I love capitalism.
(6:49:37 PM) BrassMan: man I love you, capwork |
When Josh and I were 20 he won a PTQ and was able to go to Pro-Tour Venice. I was helping him plan and saw I could get a round trip ticket for $500 so I said fuck it I'm going. And I did. We switched planes in Detroit and my parents still lived there at the time so they came and got us at the airport during our layover and we went out to dinner with them before going onto Venice. This summer at my cousin's open house I asked my dad if I could copy the files from the memory card in his camera so I could get some pictures of my extended family. I didn't have time to go through them so I just copied everything. Tonight in going through them I found pictures from that layover. So......
( Josh and I at 20. ) |
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Oct. 20th, 2008 @ 02:49 am
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This one was not so good. Both versions failed to recognize the existence of minarchists though. I can fake answers and be a libertarian or let it call me an anarchist. *sigh* |
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While I have never said this to a senior one thing I have wanted to say before is "You may have walked up hill in snow both ways but you weren't a 22 year old girl spending 6-8 hours a day on/waiting for buses when The Whisper Song came out." Today I was being hit on at a bus stop and the guy came over to me and held his phone in front of my face. On the screen was a picture of his dick. I guess with the advent of camera phones we no longer have to wait to see his dick. Oh thank heavens for modern technology....
Aug. 23rd, 2008 @ 04:38 am
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| » Today I lost my place to live, transportation, and a good amount of $. |
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I'm having a very bad day but I'm actually in a great mood. Is this crazy? Maybe it's because I've been sick and this is the first day on the way out of the sickness. Maybe it's because of people online being freaking adorable. I really don't know why. I have NO IDEA what I'm going to do but I'm not completely overwrought w/ stress even though I was when I thought this might happen and made preparations to keep it from happening, but now, when my safeguards have been blown to hell? No stress. Some kind of mental health survival thing? The typelogic major challenge assertion of my type? The desperate optimism? Whatever it is it's kind of neat.
Aug. 17th, 2008 @ 02:12 am
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| » Free Movie |
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Tuesday the 19th, 7pm, Tivoli. If you want to be my plus one call my cell. 314-497-1457
Aug. 13th, 2008 @ 06:23 pm
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| » Political Survey |
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Would you do meth if it was legalized?
People for the most part ignore laws they disagree with. The number of people who use meth while it is illegal is pretty much the number of people who would use meth if it was legal. This was also a really strange drug to pick for this as meth is not really a "responsible" drug. Marijuana would have been a better pick as the number of people who use marijuana on a semi-regular basis would probably increase somewhat as law-abiding types who tried it in college come to treat it like alcohol. Meth isn't really a casual, weekends only kinda drug.
Are you for or against abortion?
I am pro-life on a personal level. I'm adopted so that's kind of a given. There is no way I could have an abortion w/o massive massive guilt and regret and I probably could never look at a friend the same if she had one. Politically I am pro-choice. Half the people in the country do not view a fetus as a human and thus are not going to view terminating a pregnancy as killing a person. This means abortion being illegal would just lead to a large black market. Black markets should be avoided as much as possible as they are the cause of much ill in society.
Would our country (United States) fall with a woman president?
Was her campaign run on a promise to cover the US in banana peels?
Do you believe in the death penalty?
(I hate these "believe in" questions by the way. I keep wanting to be like- well I'm pretty fucking certain it exists so yes.) No I do not support the death penalty. I do however believe it is okay to take out a government leader who is slaughtering their citizens.
Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?
Yes.
Do you believe in God?
I'm agnostic.
Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?
I believe marriage should be privatized. I find marriage licenses abhorrent. How ridiculous is it that we have to ask the government's permission to get married? As long as marriage isn't privatized though I think the 14th amendment makes it kinda necessary to allow same sex marriages.
Do you think its wrong that so many Hispanics are moving to the USA?
I favor open immigration. There should be a process. But it should be a much simpler process to go through than it currently is and no one should be denied unless they have a criminal background. A VALID criminal background. Someone who has murdered someone does not get in, someone who criticized their government does.
A twelve year old girl has a baby...should she keep it?
It's not her decision. She is a child. She will not be the one responsible for the baby. The decision is her parents.
Should the alcohol age be lowered to 18?
Yes. There is no age at which people magically start drinking responsibly. I'm a taxi dispatcher that works Friday and Saturday nights. You can take my word on this one. That being said I think that it is ridiculous that we have an age limit past the age limit for adulthood on something.
Assisted suicide is illegal...do you agree?
No. But it doesn't count unless the person being killed has made their desire to die known to more people than just the one killing them. Preferably in writing. Preferably notarized.
Do you believe in spanking your children?
It wouldn't be their primary form of punishment but if I had children I would spank them.
Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?
Obviously. There are very few things I wouldn't do for a million dollars.
A mother is declared innocent after murdering her 5 children in a temporary insanity case, do you agree?
That depends on whether I believe that she was actually insane or if I think it's just the route her lawyer is going to try and get her off. I will say though that the temporary is an issue. If there's no history of mental illness I'm highly suspect and if she's still alive and not currently insane that doesn't look so good. Realizing you killed all your offspring while insane seems like it should be a pretty damn good trigger.
Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
If I was why would I do this survey?
Aug. 13th, 2008 @ 01:40 am
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| » Nicey |
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Your result for The Harry Potter Husband Test... Mrs. Bill WeasleyYour perfect HP man is Bill Weasley. 
You like guys who are cool. And not cool in that fake, dicky way, but actually cool. He's so cool that they couldn't find any actor to adequately portray him, so they decided to just leave him out of the movies rather than risk not doing justice to his coolness. He's like the Chuck Norris of Harry Potter: plain freaking awesome. When Voldemort says "You-Know-Who", he's talking about Bill Weasley. (Fanarty by The Starhorse http://the-starhorse.deviantart.com/ Used with permission.) Take The Harry Potter Husband Test at HelloQuizzy
I'm not sure how I feel about this. hehe
Aug. 12th, 2008 @ 05:28 pm
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