Yep, right around 6:30, got a call from 202-461-3440, caller ID “P30PLRSCH”. I figured it was a poll, so I answered. The robo-voice asked who I was voting for … then asked if I supported “taxpayer funded abortions”, “government-run health care”, and whether “marriage is between one man and one woman”. Uh huh. I cheerfully gave all the “wrong” answers.
The call was paid for by “Americans in Contact”, and it's apparently a method of harvesting conservative contacts:
Who is Americans In Contact PAC?
The mission of Americans in Contact PAC (AICPAC) is to identify social and fiscal conservatives throughout America and engage them at the Grassroots level in the political process of elections and legislation at all levels of Government (local, county, state and federal).
…
Telephone Survey Conducted by ccAdvertising
ccAdvertising is a leader in the communications industry, providing artificially intelligent personalized telephone surveys to commercial, political, congressional and non-profit clients…
“Artificially intelligent!” How apt. As a contact-harvesting device, it's actually clever … if utterly deceptive and crass.
This is big!
From Joe Keohane’s wonderful piece in the Globe today
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p>Good laugh for everybody. And Heaven knows we all need it.
And I gave mostly “correct” answers.
So it’s still going on.
I got the call too, but was on the other line so I missed it. š However, I fired up my auto-redial and tried calling them back 202-461-3440 but sometimes they don’t answer, and sometimes when it answers it goes to a fast-busy and disconnects. Isn’t there some law about your caller ID being valid? I’ll report it to the registry just to be safe.
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p>I enjoy the Do Not Call list but will never understand how the legislators thought they were in any way following the will of the people when the included exemptions for political and research calls. Even on the minor things they’re complete sellouts.
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx…
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p>They are calling out of state people as well-folks from Iowa and Ohio post on this thread-so maybe they’re trying to skew their poll by calling more conservative areas?
It reminds me of the joke that went the rounds of Kendall Square startups during the AI hey-day:
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p>Q: Why are venture capitalists so interested in Artificial Intellence?
A: Because they have so little of the real thing.
Same group, on Saturday at 5:30 PM. It took me a minute to realize it was a robot – I thought it was Scott himself – the caller sounded that dim-witted.
…grom a Washington Dc number, saying is Martha Coakley is elected she will “shove gay rights down our throats.”
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p>Now it’s personal.
I’ve noticed a weird pattern from the anti-marriage equality people with their choice of words. After the defeat of marriage equality in Maine in November, I saw this winner in the newspaper:
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p>