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In Spain we have something called "Lista Robinson" (in Sweden exists something similar, called "NIX-registret") which are basically opt-in lists where you can e

In Spain we have something called "Lista Robinson" (in Sweden exists something similar, called "NIX-registret") which are basically opt-in lists where you can enter your phone number, then once the new lists been distributed, the telemarketing companies cannot call you, if they're doing things properly. If they call anyway, you just mention you're on the list, they hang up, and remove your number from the list they have, eventually you stop getting calls. I think in both countries these methods are supported by actual laws, one via "advertising-exclusion systems" that the companies need to respect, and in Sweden via the Swedish Marketing Act which forces companies to not call people who've "clearly objected to that method" or something similar. I'm sure similar laws and lists exists in other countries too. Obviously hospitals, doctors, utility companies and similar don't cross-reference against these lists, as they have actual relationship with you already. Both in Sweden and in Spain I used to receive a lot of spam calls, like multiple per week, and once enrolled on these lists, the calls are non-existent, the only telemarketing calls I get now are from the companies I already have relationships with, which happens maybe once a month. If you suffer greatly by the constant spam calls, like I did once before, do take a look and see if there are similar opt-out lists in your country :) They may take a month or two before actually eliminating all calls, but they do work, apparently.

joenot443 2mo ago
We have a similar list in America [1] and Canada [2]. Unfortunately, like any regulation, its efficacy is only as good as its enforcement, so my understanding is they're both routinely ignored. Particularly grim for the Canadian case - > In January 2009, numerous media and consumer advocacy organizations reported that anyone can use false information pretending to be a telemarketer and download a set of numbers from the list for a $50 fee. It took their reporter ten minutes to do so. It has been proposed that list may be being downloaded and used as a telemarketing list overseas, where there's little that can be done as the CRTC has no jurisdiction outside of Canada [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Do_Not_Call_Registry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Do_Not_Call_Registry [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Do_Not_Call_List https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Do_Not_Call_List
- alistairSH 2mo ago
  From what I can tell, many/most of my “telemarketing” calls are really scams. And the rest are political calls, which are exempt. This the most annoying, come election time, I get 5-6 texts or calls per day asking for money or votes.
  - natebc 2mo ago
    [dead]
  - TeMPOraL 2mo ago
    > From what I can tell, many/most of my “telemarketing” calls are really scams. Arguably they are the same thing by definition. The degree and intensity of the scam just varies a bit between well-known companies on one end, and the "kid had an accident" and tech support scams on the other. Annoyingly enough, first-party scams (i.e. your own phone operator trying to dupe you into something) are somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. So are political calls you mention.
    - alistairSH 2mo ago
      100% agree. When I said scam above, I meant the obviously illegal fraudulent scams (like the "We're MS, and see you have a virus, please give us your CC info and let us remote into your desktop" stuff). Because I'm on the DNC list in the US, I don't get many/any legal telemarketing calls. The political stuff is really annoying because very little of it is directly from the campaigns themselves. It's all push polls and PACs and whatnot.
    - cge 2mo ago
      I think the point is that there is a distinction between calls that are intrusive spam or arguably scams but not already illegal, and calls where the content of the call is itself unambiguously illegal. Bans on unsolicited calls, or do-not-call lists, can be effective for the former, as it moves the behavior from being legal to being illegal, while for the latter, they are already breaking laws, often in a more severe way, and technical measures or enforcement are more important. A phone company trying to trick someone into paying more per month for something they don't need is likely to be worried about being fined if caught calling a number on a do-not-call list. A scammer pretending to be the tax office and demanding payment of supposedly unpaid taxes is going to be in trouble if caught regardless of rules about what numbers can be called.
ferngodfather 2mo ago
Most countries have these no call lists but they are fairly useless as there is no enforcement. I've even heard stories of some scammers exclusively using such lists, as they are pre-verified!
- embedding-shape 2mo ago
  > Most countries have these no call lists but they are fairly useless as there is no enforcement What country are you in that it doesn't work in? I know for a fact it works in Spain and Sweden, but it'll really depend on the country. You'd help by others by being a bit more explicit :) > I've even heard stories of some scammers exclusively using such lists, as they are pre-verified! That does suck and seems counter-productive indeed! Even more curious what exact country you're talking about now.
  - rightbyte 2mo ago
    It works versus serious companies cold calling you. Scammers and semi-scammers still call. There is some need to adress what it doesn't solve too.
    - embedding-shape 2mo ago
      Dude, what country? In Spain or Sweden, I literally don't receive any calls from unknowns anymore, scammers nor telemarketing. Please specify the country so we can know what country you're talking about, and what the name of the list you enrolled in is. Worth knowing for people who might not know; large telemarketing companies have campaigns on the internet to spread FUD about the effectiveness of these lists, so less people enroll. I'm not claiming that you is one of these, but unless we're being clear what lists/countries we're talking about here, it's borderline FUD rather than helpful to the conversation.
      - edgyquant 2mo ago
        Most people here are American, and your reply comes off as standoffish
elromulous 2mo ago
We have a "do not call" list in the us. It's effectively worthless.
- embedding-shape 2mo ago
  That just sounds like you don't actually have a "do not call" list, you have something that is trying to be a "do not call" list ;) Speak with your local politicians to fix the issues that bothers you. They don't listen, out on the streets and protest. Same way civilians communicate with their governments in every other democracy :)
  - bluefirebrand 2mo ago
    > They don't listen, out on the streets and protest. Protests have never once seemed effective my entire life, honestly
    - embedding-shape 2mo ago
      > Protests have never once seemed effective my entire life, honestly Then time to crack open those dusty history books and start reading mate :) Most of the civil rights we have in modern life comes from either protests or protests evolving into riots or protests evolving into riots evolving into civil wars, one way or another. But it always starts with protests. You might still be young and haven't yet experienced it, but you're bound to at one point or another, even if you yourself might not be out on the streets protesting and agreeing with the movement(s) when that happen.
      - pessimizer 2mo ago
        You might want to cite something, rather than do this. Everybody seems to pretend to be black Americans, whose freedoms weren't gained simply by protest, but by being beaten and having dogs sicced on them while protesting before cameras, and the shame that white people felt while watching that on television - and the pressure of "whataboutism" coming from the Russians that the USA was being judgemental about freedom while also being an apartheid state. Other people have aped the black civil rights struggle (deemed the "civil rights" struggle), and it has amounted to middle class people walking in the streets, congratulating each other and socializing. I don't know of any accomplishments resulting from that. Street protests were traditionally a show of force; an indication that an overwhelming number of people were on the edge of violence. They often ended in a lynching, or the burning down of a building. Black people did not have that option, so they just offered their bodies to television cameras - this was not traditional, this was new. The only model they had before that was Gandhi, and that was not a traditional Indian thing as many think, but an idea he took from Tolstoy. Time to crack open a history book and find out why Baltimore was called Mobtown. Walking in the street has never done anything.
black_knight 2mo ago
Same in Norway. I have been on the list for decades, and I never receive any unwanted calls – except from my mother (j.k love you mum!) I am not sure why it works so well here. I have vague recollections of news articles about it being ignored in the past. I guess they just struck down hard on those. Also, I imagine if you put yourself on that list you would be really grumpy if someone called to try to sell you something.
- embedding-shape 2mo ago
  > I am not sure why it works so well here. I'm guessing (since Norway and Sweden tends to be more similar than different) that Norway also have something similar to the Swedish "Marknadsföringslagen" ("The Marketing Act") that effectively outlaws companies from calling people who obviously don't want to be called. They quite literally get fines if they call people on these lists, hence the companies actively cross-reference against them. I've worked in cold-calling telemarketing in both Sweden and Spain in my previous life, both companies I worked for were deadly afraid of accidentally calling people on these lists, and actively instructed employees to basically say "Sorry", hang up and flag the number if someone mentioned the name of the lists.
derfurth 2mo ago
It was the case in France too, it was called Bloctel; you just had to register your phone number and telemarketing companies had a legal obligation to look it up and not call you. So it worked for a time, legit companies stoped calling; however most people didn't knew about Bloctel as it was little advertised. Meanwhile, spam calls turned into scam calls, and a real issue especially with the elderly. So I think that banning all unsolicited calling kills two birds with one stone, spam becomes illegal and scams as a consequence becomes easier to spot as there are no more unsolicited calls.
- pmontra 2mo ago
  We have that kind of list in Italy too. I registered my number and I keep getting calls, so I stopped answering to numbers not in my contacts list. If I know that somebody will be calling me, I ask for the number and I add it to the list.
  - embedding-shape 2mo ago
    Have you tried answering and then just saying the name of the list you've enrolled in? Tends to help propagate to the companies that they absolutely should not call the number again. At least here the companies tend to actively self-moderate and cross-reference against the lists, as the law does get enforced. When I worked in cold-calling call centers in the past, I remember they being strict with teaching the "marketers" what to do when people brought up the local list(s).
hallway_monitor 2mo ago
For all these countries that don’t get scam calls, it has nothing to do with your do not call list since these are criminals anyway. It has to do with the fact that Americans are Legion and have a lot of money.
- bluebarbet 2mo ago
  >Americans are Legion and have a lot of money And perhaps also (unironically) more persuadable due to the rampant commercialism and historic openness (to ideas, strangers, everything) of their society.
Marciplan 2mo ago
those lists exist everywhere. They don’t really work so well :)
- embedding-shape 2mo ago
  I guess it's my word against yours :) What should we do?
  - Kon5ole 2mo ago
    >I guess it's my word against yours :) What should we do? It only takes one example of someone on the list getting scam calls to prove they don't work. And also, no matter how many on the list are not getting calls it doesn't prove it was because of the list.
    - embedding-shape 2mo ago
      We have very different definitions of "prove" clearly :)
kibibu 2mo ago
I need this. I've had bloody Freshworks calling me every single day for the past month, even though I ask them to remove me from their list every time. It doesn't matter if I ask nicely, whether I listen to their pitch or don't, whether I make threats, they still call. I will never, ever, work with Freshworks, Freshdesk, Freshservice, or any of their other products as a direct result of this.
- embedding-shape 2mo ago
  Look up what the name of the list is in your country, cite it the next time they call, and that you'll report them to <name of local agency> unless they cease, I'm sure they'll get the message :) Most of the people doing cold-calling been trained to listen for the names of the lists, and have strict orders what to do with the number in case someone they call brings it up.
- 9dev 2mo ago
  As crude as it sounds; try pulling a madman show. Cussing, screaming, threatening to go after them, completely loosing it. I suspect they have a field for notes in the agent database and will mark you as difficult or improbable lead, and stop calling.
  - Melatonic 2mo ago
    Or just answer the call and immediately play back the sound of a 56k modem or fax machine. On repeat. ( I have no idea if this actually works )
yolo3000 2mo ago
Same in the Netherlands, but it's not enforced. Although, it could be so easily enforced, at least for dutch numbers.
jaapz 2mo ago
Who wants these calls? It ends up that the people that don't know that these lists exist (my grandma) still receive these calls - so everyone who's likely to be baited in buying something they don't need for way too much money. Also, it depends on the company keeping their word that they won't call you when you are on this list. Nobody needs or wants these calls, they are always some company wanting to upsell you something you don't really need, they shouldn't be opt-out.
Keyframe 2mo ago
i put my number on the list and it worked great for a bit until spam calls started calling from outside the country. At least now I know not to answer calls from outside the country. I see a ton of people moved over to actual calls via whatsapp though.
brabel 2mo ago
Thanks for the information, I live in Sweden and get calls at least once a week, but it's annoying enough. I visited family in Brazil and was shocked about how people there seem to get unsolicited marketing calls every hour or so!! My mom was forced to change her number to stop them as she nearly got scammed of several thousand dollars - sometimes the scams are extremely convincing - in this case they knew she was at a certain bank agency and who she talked to, so clearly it had inside involvement. Also, now with AI-cloning voice services, it's almost impossible to tell if the person on the other side is really who you think it is. Answering calls from unknown numbers is an absolutely no-no. Even from known numbers, you've got to be careful.
- metabagel 2mo ago
  Once a week, LOL. I get 3-6 calls per day (USA).
  - embedding-shape 2mo ago
    You know, this comment + https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49208950 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49208950 ("sitting on my bench with the neighbor's calico meowing at me, when fully automatic gunfire would ring out") gives me the impression that the US really is a completely upside down country compared to most others out there, but people are just so used to it, they don't understand what kind of dystopian world they already live in every day. Years ago when I first found Lista Robinson was because I felt like I received calls once a day and had to do something about it because it was too much. If I got 3-6 calls per day I'd think I'd get rid of my phone in total, I wouldn't want to have a phone at all if that happened :P Then some of the residents in the US are used to gunshots going off in their neighborhood, I just don't know what to think anymore...
dolmen 2mo ago
We had this for years in France. But this is bypassed.
amarant 2mo ago
Nix-registret is awesome! I didn't realise just how good it is until I transferred ownership of my number to my company, which automatically took me off the list(companies can't be in nix) which almost immediately made me regret owning a phone. There are tax benefits to having the company foot the phone bill, but it's not worth it, currently.
- throwaway894345 2mo ago
  How does it work, technically? In the US we have something that is supposed to be similar--put your number on a registry and telemarketers can't legally call you--but in practice we've just built a list of real phone numbers that telemarketers and scammers can use to target numbers that are owned by real people rather than brute-forcing the entire phone number space. If there is any enforcement at all, it's imperceptible.
  - amarant 2mo ago
    I had to look it up, but it seems like you do a lookup per number before calling, and nixregistret will basically tell you if that number is in their register or not. I'm not sure how enforcement works, from the copy on their website it seems like it's purely voluntary to even check there, but serious companies do because their customers will hate them forever if they call people who are registered. I'm actually surprised it works so well given the apparent lack of enforcement. The only calls I ever get these days are from someone with an Indian accent who says "hello I'm calling from Blockchain", and even that has been a while!
  - embedding-shape 2mo ago
    > How does it work, technically? Now it was decades ago I worked in cold calling telemarketing, but back then, the company basically purchased/subscribed to various lists of numbers they get from other companies, and also had lists of numbers to not call, either obtained from the do-not-call registries, or their own lists of "unsellable" customers, bad numbers and so on, simply crossed-references the ones that they for legal (or otherwise) shouldn't call, then the telemarketers who all sit in basically automated stations, end up just calling the "good" numbers. Different teams get different chunks of the numbers, but all the calls they're supposed to be doing, are supposed to not be on any of the do-not-call lists already. The telemarketers themselves are told to basically hang up and mark the number as "do not call" if anyone picks up and says/mentions the name of lists. Most companies I knew from then took the lists seriously since their mechanism is based on actual laws in the countries, and evidently since I nor the people I enrolled in these lists receive marketing calls, the companies today takes them equally seriously.
jeppebemad 2mo ago
Surprised that it was “Robinson” in Spain as well as Denmark, I had to look it up. Apparently that name is used in germany, netherlands, Belgium and more. It stems from Robinson Crusoe, which of course makes sense, as he was disconnected from the world :) Personal take: it has no real effect, as especially foreign spam/scam callers have no insight or interest in looking up the list. Any ban is welcome!
- embedding-shape 2mo ago
  > Surprised that it was “Robinson” in Spain as well as Denmark, I had to look it up. Hah, I was similarly surprised, especially since in Sweden where I come from, it's called the "NIX-registry" for no rhyme or reason. At least Robinson makes sense to me :)
saidnooneever 2mo ago
in Netherlands you have 'bel me niet register' (dont call my registry) which makes it unlawful for legit telemarketing. but this is not about telemarketing only. there is many more spam. also the laws would only locally apply so international calls dont fall under it
clownpenis_fart 2mo ago
[dead]
riedel 2mo ago
In Germany it is assumed illegal without prior consent or with calling machines [0]. However, practically you get a few of those calls per week. Also often from international numbers. [0] https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/uwg_2004/__7.html https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/uwg_2004/__7.html

joenot443 2mo ago

We have a similar list in America [1] and Canada [2]. Unfortunately, like any regulation, its efficacy is only as good as its enforcement, so my understanding is they're both routinely ignored. Particularly grim for the Canadian case - > In January 2009, numerous media and consumer advocacy organizations reported that anyone can use false information pretending to be a telemarketer and download a set of numbers from the list for a $50 fee. It took their reporter ten minutes to do so. It has been proposed that list may be being downloaded and used as a telemarketing list overseas, where there's little that can be done as the CRTC has no jurisdiction outside of Canada [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Do_Not_Call_Registry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Do_Not_Call_Registry [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Do_Not_Call_List https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Do_Not_Call_List

alistairSH 2mo ago
From what I can tell, many/most of my “telemarketing” calls are really scams. And the rest are political calls, which are exempt. This the most annoying, come election time, I get 5-6 texts or calls per day asking for money or votes.
- natebc 2mo ago
  [dead]
- TeMPOraL 2mo ago
  > From what I can tell, many/most of my “telemarketing” calls are really scams. Arguably they are the same thing by definition. The degree and intensity of the scam just varies a bit between well-known companies on one end, and the "kid had an accident" and tech support scams on the other. Annoyingly enough, first-party scams (i.e. your own phone operator trying to dupe you into something) are somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. So are political calls you mention.
  - alistairSH 2mo ago
    100% agree. When I said scam above, I meant the obviously illegal fraudulent scams (like the "We're MS, and see you have a virus, please give us your CC info and let us remote into your desktop" stuff). Because I'm on the DNC list in the US, I don't get many/any legal telemarketing calls. The political stuff is really annoying because very little of it is directly from the campaigns themselves. It's all push polls and PACs and whatnot.
  - cge 2mo ago
    I think the point is that there is a distinction between calls that are intrusive spam or arguably scams but not already illegal, and calls where the content of the call is itself unambiguously illegal. Bans on unsolicited calls, or do-not-call lists, can be effective for the former, as it moves the behavior from being legal to being illegal, while for the latter, they are already breaking laws, often in a more severe way, and technical measures or enforcement are more important. A phone company trying to trick someone into paying more per month for something they don't need is likely to be worried about being fined if caught calling a number on a do-not-call list. A scammer pretending to be the tax office and demanding payment of supposedly unpaid taxes is going to be in trouble if caught regardless of rules about what numbers can be called.

ferngodfather 2mo ago

Most countries have these no call lists but they are fairly useless as there is no enforcement. I've even heard stories of some scammers exclusively using such lists, as they are pre-verified!

embedding-shape 2mo ago
> Most countries have these no call lists but they are fairly useless as there is no enforcement What country are you in that it doesn't work in? I know for a fact it works in Spain and Sweden, but it'll really depend on the country. You'd help by others by being a bit more explicit :) > I've even heard stories of some scammers exclusively using such lists, as they are pre-verified! That does suck and seems counter-productive indeed! Even more curious what exact country you're talking about now.
- rightbyte 2mo ago
  It works versus serious companies cold calling you. Scammers and semi-scammers still call. There is some need to adress what it doesn't solve too.
  - embedding-shape 2mo ago
    Dude, what country? In Spain or Sweden, I literally don't receive any calls from unknowns anymore, scammers nor telemarketing. Please specify the country so we can know what country you're talking about, and what the name of the list you enrolled in is. Worth knowing for people who might not know; large telemarketing companies have campaigns on the internet to spread FUD about the effectiveness of these lists, so less people enroll. I'm not claiming that you is one of these, but unless we're being clear what lists/countries we're talking about here, it's borderline FUD rather than helpful to the conversation.
    - edgyquant 2mo ago
      Most people here are American, and your reply comes off as standoffish

elromulous 2mo ago

We have a "do not call" list in the us. It's effectively worthless.

embedding-shape 2mo ago
That just sounds like you don't actually have a "do not call" list, you have something that is trying to be a "do not call" list ;) Speak with your local politicians to fix the issues that bothers you. They don't listen, out on the streets and protest. Same way civilians communicate with their governments in every other democracy :)
- bluefirebrand 2mo ago
  > They don't listen, out on the streets and protest. Protests have never once seemed effective my entire life, honestly
  - embedding-shape 2mo ago
    > Protests have never once seemed effective my entire life, honestly Then time to crack open those dusty history books and start reading mate :) Most of the civil rights we have in modern life comes from either protests or protests evolving into riots or protests evolving into riots evolving into civil wars, one way or another. But it always starts with protests. You might still be young and haven't yet experienced it, but you're bound to at one point or another, even if you yourself might not be out on the streets protesting and agreeing with the movement(s) when that happen.
    - pessimizer 2mo ago
      You might want to cite something, rather than do this. Everybody seems to pretend to be black Americans, whose freedoms weren't gained simply by protest, but by being beaten and having dogs sicced on them while protesting before cameras, and the shame that white people felt while watching that on television - and the pressure of "whataboutism" coming from the Russians that the USA was being judgemental about freedom while also being an apartheid state. Other people have aped the black civil rights struggle (deemed the "civil rights" struggle), and it has amounted to middle class people walking in the streets, congratulating each other and socializing. I don't know of any accomplishments resulting from that. Street protests were traditionally a show of force; an indication that an overwhelming number of people were on the edge of violence. They often ended in a lynching, or the burning down of a building. Black people did not have that option, so they just offered their bodies to television cameras - this was not traditional, this was new. The only model they had before that was Gandhi, and that was not a traditional Indian thing as many think, but an idea he took from Tolstoy. Time to crack open a history book and find out why Baltimore was called Mobtown. Walking in the street has never done anything.

black_knight 2mo ago

Same in Norway. I have been on the list for decades, and I never receive any unwanted calls – except from my mother (j.k love you mum!) I am not sure why it works so well here. I have vague recollections of news articles about it being ignored in the past. I guess they just struck down hard on those. Also, I imagine if you put yourself on that list you would be really grumpy if someone called to try to sell you something.

embedding-shape 2mo ago
> I am not sure why it works so well here. I'm guessing (since Norway and Sweden tends to be more similar than different) that Norway also have something similar to the Swedish "Marknadsföringslagen" ("The Marketing Act") that effectively outlaws companies from calling people who obviously don't want to be called. They quite literally get fines if they call people on these lists, hence the companies actively cross-reference against them. I've worked in cold-calling telemarketing in both Sweden and Spain in my previous life, both companies I worked for were deadly afraid of accidentally calling people on these lists, and actively instructed employees to basically say "Sorry", hang up and flag the number if someone mentioned the name of the lists.

derfurth 2mo ago

It was the case in France too, it was called Bloctel; you just had to register your phone number and telemarketing companies had a legal obligation to look it up and not call you. So it worked for a time, legit companies stoped calling; however most people didn't knew about Bloctel as it was little advertised. Meanwhile, spam calls turned into scam calls, and a real issue especially with the elderly. So I think that banning all unsolicited calling kills two birds with one stone, spam becomes illegal and scams as a consequence becomes easier to spot as there are no more unsolicited calls.

pmontra 2mo ago
We have that kind of list in Italy too. I registered my number and I keep getting calls, so I stopped answering to numbers not in my contacts list. If I know that somebody will be calling me, I ask for the number and I add it to the list.
- embedding-shape 2mo ago
  Have you tried answering and then just saying the name of the list you've enrolled in? Tends to help propagate to the companies that they absolutely should not call the number again. At least here the companies tend to actively self-moderate and cross-reference against the lists, as the law does get enforced. When I worked in cold-calling call centers in the past, I remember they being strict with teaching the "marketers" what to do when people brought up the local list(s).

hallway_monitor 2mo ago

For all these countries that don’t get scam calls, it has nothing to do with your do not call list since these are criminals anyway. It has to do with the fact that Americans are Legion and have a lot of money.

bluebarbet 2mo ago
>Americans are Legion and have a lot of money And perhaps also (unironically) more persuadable due to the rampant commercialism and historic openness (to ideas, strangers, everything) of their society.

Marciplan 2mo ago

those lists exist everywhere. They don’t really work so well :)

embedding-shape 2mo ago
I guess it's my word against yours :) What should we do?
- Kon5ole 2mo ago
  >I guess it's my word against yours :) What should we do? It only takes one example of someone on the list getting scam calls to prove they don't work. And also, no matter how many on the list are not getting calls it doesn't prove it was because of the list.
  - embedding-shape 2mo ago
    We have very different definitions of "prove" clearly :)

kibibu 2mo ago

I need this. I've had bloody Freshworks calling me every single day for the past month, even though I ask them to remove me from their list every time. It doesn't matter if I ask nicely, whether I listen to their pitch or don't, whether I make threats, they still call. I will never, ever, work with Freshworks, Freshdesk, Freshservice, or any of their other products as a direct result of this.

embedding-shape 2mo ago
Look up what the name of the list is in your country, cite it the next time they call, and that you'll report them to <name of local agency> unless they cease, I'm sure they'll get the message :) Most of the people doing cold-calling been trained to listen for the names of the lists, and have strict orders what to do with the number in case someone they call brings it up.
9dev 2mo ago
As crude as it sounds; try pulling a madman show. Cussing, screaming, threatening to go after them, completely loosing it. I suspect they have a field for notes in the agent database and will mark you as difficult or improbable lead, and stop calling.
- Melatonic 2mo ago
  Or just answer the call and immediately play back the sound of a 56k modem or fax machine. On repeat. ( I have no idea if this actually works )

yolo3000 2mo ago

Same in the Netherlands, but it's not enforced. Although, it could be so easily enforced, at least for dutch numbers.

jaapz 2mo ago

Who wants these calls? It ends up that the people that don't know that these lists exist (my grandma) still receive these calls - so everyone who's likely to be baited in buying something they don't need for way too much money. Also, it depends on the company keeping their word that they won't call you when you are on this list. Nobody needs or wants these calls, they are always some company wanting to upsell you something you don't really need, they shouldn't be opt-out.

Keyframe 2mo ago

i put my number on the list and it worked great for a bit until spam calls started calling from outside the country. At least now I know not to answer calls from outside the country. I see a ton of people moved over to actual calls via whatsapp though.

brabel 2mo ago

Thanks for the information, I live in Sweden and get calls at least once a week, but it's annoying enough. I visited family in Brazil and was shocked about how people there seem to get unsolicited marketing calls every hour or so!! My mom was forced to change her number to stop them as she nearly got scammed of several thousand dollars - sometimes the scams are extremely convincing - in this case they knew she was at a certain bank agency and who she talked to, so clearly it had inside involvement. Also, now with AI-cloning voice services, it's almost impossible to tell if the person on the other side is really who you think it is. Answering calls from unknown numbers is an absolutely no-no. Even from known numbers, you've got to be careful.

metabagel 2mo ago
Once a week, LOL. I get 3-6 calls per day (USA).
- embedding-shape 2mo ago
  You know, this comment + https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49208950 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49208950 ("sitting on my bench with the neighbor's calico meowing at me, when fully automatic gunfire would ring out") gives me the impression that the US really is a completely upside down country compared to most others out there, but people are just so used to it, they don't understand what kind of dystopian world they already live in every day. Years ago when I first found Lista Robinson was because I felt like I received calls once a day and had to do something about it because it was too much. If I got 3-6 calls per day I'd think I'd get rid of my phone in total, I wouldn't want to have a phone at all if that happened :P Then some of the residents in the US are used to gunshots going off in their neighborhood, I just don't know what to think anymore...

dolmen 2mo ago

We had this for years in France. But this is bypassed.

amarant 2mo ago

Nix-registret is awesome! I didn't realise just how good it is until I transferred ownership of my number to my company, which automatically took me off the list(companies can't be in nix) which almost immediately made me regret owning a phone. There are tax benefits to having the company foot the phone bill, but it's not worth it, currently.

throwaway894345 2mo ago
How does it work, technically? In the US we have something that is supposed to be similar--put your number on a registry and telemarketers can't legally call you--but in practice we've just built a list of real phone numbers that telemarketers and scammers can use to target numbers that are owned by real people rather than brute-forcing the entire phone number space. If there is any enforcement at all, it's imperceptible.
- amarant 2mo ago
  I had to look it up, but it seems like you do a lookup per number before calling, and nixregistret will basically tell you if that number is in their register or not. I'm not sure how enforcement works, from the copy on their website it seems like it's purely voluntary to even check there, but serious companies do because their customers will hate them forever if they call people who are registered. I'm actually surprised it works so well given the apparent lack of enforcement. The only calls I ever get these days are from someone with an Indian accent who says "hello I'm calling from Blockchain", and even that has been a while!
- embedding-shape 2mo ago
  > How does it work, technically? Now it was decades ago I worked in cold calling telemarketing, but back then, the company basically purchased/subscribed to various lists of numbers they get from other companies, and also had lists of numbers to not call, either obtained from the do-not-call registries, or their own lists of "unsellable" customers, bad numbers and so on, simply crossed-references the ones that they for legal (or otherwise) shouldn't call, then the telemarketers who all sit in basically automated stations, end up just calling the "good" numbers. Different teams get different chunks of the numbers, but all the calls they're supposed to be doing, are supposed to not be on any of the do-not-call lists already. The telemarketers themselves are told to basically hang up and mark the number as "do not call" if anyone picks up and says/mentions the name of lists. Most companies I knew from then took the lists seriously since their mechanism is based on actual laws in the countries, and evidently since I nor the people I enrolled in these lists receive marketing calls, the companies today takes them equally seriously.

jeppebemad 2mo ago

Surprised that it was “Robinson” in Spain as well as Denmark, I had to look it up. Apparently that name is used in germany, netherlands, Belgium and more. It stems from Robinson Crusoe, which of course makes sense, as he was disconnected from the world :) Personal take: it has no real effect, as especially foreign spam/scam callers have no insight or interest in looking up the list. Any ban is welcome!

embedding-shape 2mo ago
> Surprised that it was “Robinson” in Spain as well as Denmark, I had to look it up. Hah, I was similarly surprised, especially since in Sweden where I come from, it's called the "NIX-registry" for no rhyme or reason. At least Robinson makes sense to me :)

saidnooneever 2mo ago

in Netherlands you have 'bel me niet register' (dont call my registry) which makes it unlawful for legit telemarketing. but this is not about telemarketing only. there is many more spam. also the laws would only locally apply so international calls dont fall under it

clownpenis_fart 2mo ago

[dead]

riedel 2mo ago

In Germany it is assumed illegal without prior consent or with calling machines [0]. However, practically you get a few of those calls per week. Also often from international numbers. [0] https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/uwg_2004/__7.html https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/uwg_2004/__7.html