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The biggest loop hole is for political-adjacent communications which get a complete pass on all restrictions and can send as much spam as they please. Expect a

by tmpz22 4y ago

The biggest loop hole is for political-adjacent communications which get a complete pass on all restrictions and can send as much spam as they please. Expect a huge increase around midterms, as even non-political communications draft in the wake of the loophole traffic.

ceejayoz 4y ago
That used to be at least manageable, as most of them were via 5-6 digit short codes, and those additionally respected the STOP keyword. Lately, I've been getting SMS spam from individual peoples' numbers, because politicians have realized they can say "hey go send this text to these numbers" to individual volunteers (SMS version of the old phone banking technique) to get around even that. STOP keyword doesn't do anything on a regular person's cell phone number.
- tmpz22 4y ago
  > "hey go send this text to these numbers" to individual volunteers I have direct knowledge that a lot of this is automated via services like Twilio which allow you to programmatically pick local numbers (relative to the receiver) as well as message templates that make the message more human. Im sure its still being done manually, but a lot of this is fully automated at scale (going back to ~2015). Short-code numbers are also quite expensive relatively, or were back when I was working in adjacent technology.
  - ceejayoz 4y ago
    Sometimes, but text banking is definitely a big thing. https://www.demandthevote.com/text-banking https://www.demandthevote.com/text-banking https://act.betoorourke.com/signup/bft-volunteer/ https://act.betoorourke.com/signup/bft-volunteer/ I can usually tell based on how long the response to the STOP keyword comes back. Some are a day later from a human; “Sorry, will update the list” sort of stuff. Others are instantaneous and clearly canned.
- boringg 4y ago
  Also if you send STOP it confirms that someone is reading the text message and its a live number.
  - tmpz22 4y ago
    In my experience most message sending services (re: Twilio) offer webhooks to consume replies which can then trigger a response template appearing like an actual person.
- ribosometronome 4y ago
  >As most of them were via 5-6 digit short codes, and those additionally respected the STOP keyword. I just counted and I have sent STOP to 26 5-6 digit numbers this year and they still come, all for one specific political party I've never donated to. It seems like they technically respect the STOP but your number is already passed on/gets passed on to other PACs/politicians regardless.
  - ceejayoz 4y ago
    Yes. If you do anything even slightly related to a political campaign - donate, sign a petition, fill out a form - that list gets sold over and over and over. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/06/email-list-for-sale-2020-candidates-are-paying/ https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/06/email-list-for-sale... It's often the most valuable asset a campaign has.
- zamalek 4y ago
  Have you tried responding with something offensive? A porn gif, for example.

by tmpz22 4y ago

ceejayoz 4y ago

That used to be at least manageable, as most of them were via 5-6 digit short codes, and those additionally respected the STOP keyword. Lately, I've been getting SMS spam from individual peoples' numbers, because politicians have realized they can say "hey go send this text to these numbers" to individual volunteers (SMS version of the old phone banking technique) to get around even that. STOP keyword doesn't do anything on a regular person's cell phone number.

tmpz22 4y ago
> "hey go send this text to these numbers" to individual volunteers I have direct knowledge that a lot of this is automated via services like Twilio which allow you to programmatically pick local numbers (relative to the receiver) as well as message templates that make the message more human. Im sure its still being done manually, but a lot of this is fully automated at scale (going back to ~2015). Short-code numbers are also quite expensive relatively, or were back when I was working in adjacent technology.
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  Sometimes, but text banking is definitely a big thing. https://www.demandthevote.com/text-banking https://www.demandthevote.com/text-banking https://act.betoorourke.com/signup/bft-volunteer/ https://act.betoorourke.com/signup/bft-volunteer/ I can usually tell based on how long the response to the STOP keyword comes back. Some are a day later from a human; “Sorry, will update the list” sort of stuff. Others are instantaneous and clearly canned.
boringg 4y ago
Also if you send STOP it confirms that someone is reading the text message and its a live number.
- tmpz22 4y ago
  In my experience most message sending services (re: Twilio) offer webhooks to consume replies which can then trigger a response template appearing like an actual person.
ribosometronome 4y ago
>As most of them were via 5-6 digit short codes, and those additionally respected the STOP keyword. I just counted and I have sent STOP to 26 5-6 digit numbers this year and they still come, all for one specific political party I've never donated to. It seems like they technically respect the STOP but your number is already passed on/gets passed on to other PACs/politicians regardless.
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  Yes. If you do anything even slightly related to a political campaign - donate, sign a petition, fill out a form - that list gets sold over and over and over. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/06/email-list-for-sale-2020-candidates-are-paying/ https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/06/email-list-for-sale... It's often the most valuable asset a campaign has.
zamalek 4y ago
Have you tried responding with something offensive? A porn gif, for example.