Ugh...a political candidate in Missouri is "spoofing" my phone number!!!

[cbdo2007]

My wife and I keep getting calls today at home from people who say they saw our number on their caller ID, so they're calling us back to see why we called.

One of these people who saw my number come up was a relative who recognized our number and picked it up...and it was a political robo-call.

Called the phone company and they said: this is not illegal for them to use our number as the caller ID number, they can't find out who is doing it, and there is no way to stop it.

Anyone got any bright ideas?!?! They said the only thing we could do is do a *69 if WE get that call (we don't have caller ID) but even then, if it's not illegal then there's really no point in finding out who is doing it.

UUGHHH!!! Darn it!!!!

[Ian David]

1. Talk to a lawyer about suing them for false light invasion of privacy.

False light
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

False light is a legal term that refers to a tort concerning privacy that is similar to the tort of defamation. The privacy laws in the United States include a non-public person's right to privacy from publicity which puts them in a false light to the public; which is balanced against the First Amendment right of free speech.

False light differs from defamation primarily in being intended "to protect the plaintiff's mental or emotional well-being" rather than protect a plaintiff's reputation as is the case with the tort of defamation<1> and in being about the impression created rather than being about true or false. If a publication of information is false, then a tort of defamation might have occurred. If that communication is not technically false but is still misleading then a tort of false light might have occurred.<1>

"False light privacy claims often arise under the same facts as defamation cases, and therefore not all states recognize false light actions. There is a subtle difference in the way courts view the legal theories -- false light cases are about damage to a person's personal feelings or dignity, whereas defamation is about damage to a person's reputation."<2>

"The specific elements of the Tort of FALSE LIGHT vary considerably even among those jurisdictions which do recognize this Tort. Generally, these elements consist of the following:

1. A publication by the Defendant about the Plaintiff;
2. made with actual malice (very similar to that type required by New York Times v. Sullivan in "Defamation" cases);
3. which places the Plaintiff in a false light; AND
4. that would be highly offensive (i.e., embarrassing to reasonable persons).<1>

Some U.S. state courts have ruled that false light lawsuits must be rewritten as defamation lawsuits in their states because their state's defamation law "covers the same ground" with respect to what those courts have ruled should be covered in avoiding a chilling effect on the media. But, "most states do allow false light claims to be brought, even where a defamation claim would suffice."<3>

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_light

[cbdo2007]

3. Cool, thanks!! Still...we'll have to do a *69 IF we happen to get a political call.

And they aren't doing it with #2 "actual malice" they are just doing it to be deceptive. Hmmm, thanks for the info though.

[Ian David]

2. Start by contacting local TV and newspapers.

Very often, what cannot be stopped by the cops or the courts can be stopped through public shaming.

[LiberalArkie]

4. A bill in congress to make it illegal is being held up...

It happens all the time with telemarketers etc..

[Rochester]

5. Two things I think you should do...

First, make sure that that really is illegal. The phone company might really have been saying "It would be unprofitable for us to investigate this or put a stop to it."
Second, if it turns out that it is illegal, then you will have some leverage against them. And if it isn't, then you'll have to raise hell until it is made illegal, or at least until you can pressure the candidate's campaign people to stop. If it isn't illegal, then the only way I can think of offhand is to take it to the press. Write letters to the paper, to every newspaper in Missouri if that's what it takes. Send it to the national TV news and see if they pick it up. I've seen people on the internet on complaint sites talk about this kind of thing before, except it was charities or telemarketers falsifying their CID information rather than politicians, but I've never seen it on the national press yet. Keep making a stink until it gets enough attention for either the telephone regulators to take it seriously, or for the politician to fear bad press enough to stop of his own volition.
Good luck!

[kenny blankenship]

6. Maybe you could tell people complaining to you to complain to their phone co.

Ask them to do it as a favor to you since you can't get the phone company interested in who's spoofing your number. Tell them to make sure the phone company understands that the robo-call is spoofing your # and you are not the spammer. The phone company can definitely trace that call to its actual origin if they know when it occurred, and they can contact the account holder - or better yet they can just terminate the spamming account for abuse. The phone company may not listen to you, but they are supposed to listen to the people who are receiving these spoofed calls over their network.

[kayakjohnny]

7. Two words...

Boat.

Horn.

[saras]

8. Wrong victim

This only works if you get the responsible party. What is happening is that ordinary people are getting calls, and they call back, only to call "back" a completely irrelevant person whose number has been stolen.

When I get a teabagger call, I call back (so far I've only gotten answering machines). I tell them, calmly and politely, that their phone number has been used to send a harassing phone call, and that it has been reported. If they are innocent victims, they can take it up with their phone company.

Telling your phone company that you will switch providers if they don't stop the misuse of your number is more likely to have an effect than merely complaining. Ask a good attorney - there may be a number of possible tactics that vary by locality.

But attacking someone whose number has been hijacked is hardly helpful.

On the other hand, if you DO get the responsible party, boat horns work great, as do amateur death metal vocals - that was always my favorite for telemarketers. Then tell them that's the way you always speak, and you actually are interested in their product - you just happen to talk exactly like Gwar sings.

[blogslut]

9. Do you have call forwarding?

If so, then perhaps you can locate the campaign office of this candidate and, until the election is over, forward calls from your home to their office.

[cbdo2007]

10. haha, that's a good idea but....

unfortunately we don't have it. We just have the cheapest, most basic service possible and we aren't inundated with calls, just enough to piss us off. :)

edit to add: that if we get one call after the baby is asleep tonight though i'm stealing every Repube campaign sign within a mile of my house.