[LINK] 'Do not call' phone list Bill shelved

[Robin Whittle]

There's no law against predictive dialing software or automated calling
systems.  Nor is there any law against totally automated calls which
play marketing messages to the hapless recipients.

There is a chap in the UK who has been working hard on the problem of
"silent calls" - which include calls resulting from technical failure,
and especially the calls made by predictive dialers when no operator is
available to handle the answered call.  David Hickson's site:

  http://www.users.waitrose.com/~silentcalls/

He told me of an elderly person who stayed at home all week because she
was sure the "silent calls" were a burglar ready to pounce, and of a
relationship breakdown prompted by one person interpreting repeated
"silent calls" as evidence of an affair.

  - Robin