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Why were Robocalls allowed to begin with, back when they were taped messages? From the beginning you couldn't screen calls to your home (no called ID) so it mus

Why were Robocalls allowed to begin with, back when they were taped messages? From the beginning you couldn't screen calls to your home (no called ID) so it must have been infuriating to get up from the couch to answer a robocall? If regulation had been sane from the beginning maybe this discussion wouldn't be necessary (I can't imagine robocalls are legal in many other places? I haven't gotten one in my entire life).

b112 3y ago
Before the big Ma Bell split up, due to them being a monopoly, even local calls were often charged. And long distance rates were horrible, and there were none of these independents. Back then, there wasn't a reason, because such call devices cost hard cash per call. And it's really only gotten super bad the last decade.
Karellen 3y ago
> Why were Robocalls allowed to begin with, Because money. Duh.
- alkonaut 3y ago
  I don’t follow. Companies don’t vote but voters have to answer robocalls.
  - Karellen 3y ago
    Companies vote with their $$$, and are happy to donate to any and all political parties to do their bidding, so a) Unless it's a core part of what differentiates party A from party B, voters won't pay that much attention (compared to other issues), so parties can have the same (lack of) policy that favors the companies, to keep those donations flowing. b) If the parties all have the same policy, there's no-one the voters can vote for to work in their interests on that issue, so they'll vote for whoever they were going to vote for anyway on the other issues.
    - alkonaut 3y ago
      This sounds like a problem of having a) made money a core part of politics and b) having a two party system.
bluGill 3y ago
They were a loophole nobody expected so they didn't mitigate it. Robocalls would not have been affordable in the 1970s as long distance rates were so high - you would have needed to setup a call center in each city you target as long distance rates between cities was hundreds of dollars per hour. That means pay big city labor rates not cheap foreign labor. Only with IP calling is calling from country to country cheap enough that robocalls can be worth doing.

b112 3y ago

Before the big Ma Bell split up, due to them being a monopoly, even local calls were often charged. And long distance rates were horrible, and there were none of these independents. Back then, there wasn't a reason, because such call devices cost hard cash per call. And it's really only gotten super bad the last decade.

Karellen 3y ago

> Why were Robocalls allowed to begin with, Because money. Duh.

alkonaut 3y ago
I don’t follow. Companies don’t vote but voters have to answer robocalls.
- Karellen 3y ago
  Companies vote with their $$$, and are happy to donate to any and all political parties to do their bidding, so a) Unless it's a core part of what differentiates party A from party B, voters won't pay that much attention (compared to other issues), so parties can have the same (lack of) policy that favors the companies, to keep those donations flowing. b) If the parties all have the same policy, there's no-one the voters can vote for to work in their interests on that issue, so they'll vote for whoever they were going to vote for anyway on the other issues.
  - alkonaut 3y ago
    This sounds like a problem of having a) made money a core part of politics and b) having a two party system.

bluGill 3y ago

They were a loophole nobody expected so they didn't mitigate it. Robocalls would not have been affordable in the 1970s as long distance rates were so high - you would have needed to setup a call center in each city you target as long distance rates between cities was hundreds of dollars per hour. That means pay big city labor rates not cheap foreign labor. Only with IP calling is calling from country to country cheap enough that robocalls can be worth doing.