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I won a suit against a party that sent me an unsolicited text message

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Re: I won a suit against a party that sent me an unsolicited text message

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These calls are already illegal. There is a Do not call list. The gov has just been completely inept at enforcement, I don’t think we need extra tax, just enforce the laws we have.

clearly the current model doesn't work well enough. US laws don't stop Nigerian scammers abusing weak telecom systems. Adding a tax paid by the carrier incentivises them to collect it from the upstream chain all the way back to the caller.

Easy solution: The telco automatically credits 75% of the tax to your account. They then attempt to collect 100% of the tax from the caller.

At that point, the free market gets to decide if it's cheaper to eat the cost of the call (remember, each subscriber sets the amount of the tax), or secure their infrastructure.

Re: I won a suit against a party that sent me an unsolicited text message

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thread claims that not to be the case [1]: > 2. Issue a notice of demand explaining that you are seeking payment for TCPA violation and give them 10 days to respond. Send mail with signature delivery. (You can't sue without having issued a notice of demand.) $500 damages, treble if you're on the Do Not Call registry. [1] https://twitter.com/dweekly/status/1552151905433923585

I'd be curious if OP could chime in about that, since the service they posted claims they don't need you permission if you aren't on the Do Not Call list [0] > Note: They don’t need your permission if you haven’t put your mobile number on the Federal Do Not Call list, but don’t worry, if you haven’t we tell you how to do that too! [0] https://www.isipp.com/how-to-make-phone-and-sms-spammers-pay...

Yeah I'm with you, I trust the lawyer over David.

Re: I won a suit against a party that sent me an unsolicited text message

#73

Something worth highlighting is that you need to be on the Federal Do Not Call registry for that. https://www.donotcall.gov/

India created a similar system (that is somewhat better) when one of the law minister in the government started getting unsolicited calls for loans. :)

Phone users can activate Do-Not-Disturb by calling or SMSing their provider. Users can opt for complete blackout of marketing messages or opt into "categories" where they would be open to marketing (like Real Estate, Auto etc). Marketers have to register themselves and the phone numbers / id they use to do the marketing. If a marketer contacts someone on the DnD list, a 3 strikes rule applies - warning, fine, ban. A marketer who uses an unregistered number (a business phone or their own personal number) to make a marketing call will be warned, fined and will face disconnection of service on repeated violations.

Users can file a complain by calling or sending a simple SMS to 1909 in the following format: complaint / nature of call, phone number or SMS id, date as dd/mm/yy. The service provider will then take the action. E.g. - https://imgur.com/uPO1HQS (screenshot of a list of complaints filed by me and the action taken by the service provider).

Re: I won a suit against a party that sent me an unsolicited text message

#74
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, and folks could even have a credit of 500 phone calls a month, or whatever a reasonable number would be, so no cost to consumers at all. Instead of a tax, it should be a minimum charge that goes to the carriers. So that they would be incentivized to collect it.

In a world where we pay for stamps, why didn't bulk unsolicited mail go away? This won't work.

How much more junk mail would we get if postage was free? Orders of magnitude more, I imagine.

Re: I won a suit against a party that sent me an unsolicited text message

#75

I think a much easier way would be if we just taxed phone calls at 1 cent each. I mean absolutely everything else is already taxed: you pay taxes just to stay alive. the least that could be done is add a 1 cent tax to each phone call, just enough to stop the mass phone calling.

I like the idea, but I suspect the companies doing this make enough from the 1 person that falls for their scam that they can afford to spend 1 cent on everyone who doesn't. I don't know what the monetary tipping point would be where this type of scam stops being worth it for scammers, but I suspect it would be high enough that it would be equally prohibitive for actual consumers.

Re: I won a suit against a party that sent me an unsolicited text message

#76

To what extent can this be automated? There are apps to fight parking/speeding tickets... could the same be done for little lawsuits to sue spammers? Maybe a lawyer could comment on feasibility of this.

This is not my practice area but I’d guess tracking down the responsible party is a giant pain in the ass even in the best case scenario and nearly impossible in the worst.

Re: I won a suit against a party that sent me an unsolicited text message

#77
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you spend a few minutes and get them on the phone and say "I want to wire you funds right now!", they will give you a bank account.

Maybe you’d get a bank account but it wouldn’t actually be theirs.

Yeah, you’ll get the bank account of some other person who has been scammed into a “no experience necessary work-from-home job” transferring money

Re: I won a suit against a party that sent me an unsolicited text message

#78

In Germany, any company telling you that you won something is required to provide that prize. Unfortunately, the scams I get tend to be from abroad, and/or the actors behind them impossible to identify (and they also often use vague language like "potentially won" or "won one of our prizes" vs. "YOU WON A BRAND NEW TESLA CYBERTRUCK").

Same in the US. Nearly all of the junk we get originates overseas.

Re: I won a suit against a party that sent me an unsolicited text message

#80
post #61

Can someone explain why this part is necessary? >7. Cash the check and dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice. (You're agreeing to not sue them again for the exact same violation.)

Part of settling a case is you ending your legal action. That’s your end of the bargain. Their end is cutting the check, (or whatever other terms you’ve agreed to.)
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