Quote: No insult was really intended on my part and my comments were intended mainly in jest
I hope you took my response, as intended, in the same spirit.
Quote: I note the work that you are doing on Silent Calls but I wonder if these are in fact as great a menace as . . .
I got the bug for the Silent Calls thing when I started to get some response from Ofcom (back in December 2003). I thought - "I wonder if I could make a difference here?" and so I have stuck with it. There are many greater ills in the world, I did not choose this one because I believed it to be the greatest.
The use of 0906 numbers is, as you say, an issue for ICSTIS. I have the impression that ICSTIS does actually achieve things. This could be because those who want to continue to make a living out of premium rate services run it.
The recorded messages are an issue for the Office of the Information Commissioner. I have attempted to pursue two complaints about these here. There is nothing that can be done about companies that are totally based overseas and the reluctance to deal properly with a UK company that was prepared to admit to me that it was doing it was breathtaking.
I am preparing the ground for the sorting out the Information Commissioner, once I have finished with Ofcom.
Quote: I also can't actually remember the last time that I received a silent phone call depsite the fact that my number is printed in the BT phone book although I am of course registered with the TPS.
Thank you for this comment. I have heard this many times before. It helps to deny the claim made by the Direct Marketing Association that most Silent Calls are coming from cowboys and from overseas, rather than from its own "responsible" members, who respect the TPS.
If the TPS is effective in stopping Silent Calls, then it should be fairly easy for Ofcom to be effective in stopping those who are making them from doing so.
I don't want to get away from the focus of this forum. I posted here to make the point about 0870 return numbers being covered by the same powers, and to offer tips to anyone who wanted to follow the path that I have helped to beat down.