FTC "Do Not Call" list is 'bugged' by Telemarketers!

[guyver01]

Do-Not-Call site has AT&T web bug

The FTC's popular Do Not Call page has been a runaway hit with US consumers, with over five million signing up to avoid spam calls from telemarketers. But the web site hides a little secret: a web bug.

Most users won't be aware that the registry hosts a one pixel by one pixel image: a popular tracking ploy. And where does trail lead but back to AT&T, one of the most persistent telemarketers.

The FTC confirmed that AT&T Managed Services is its contractor, and hosts the website. When we asked if the FTC would consider removing the bug, they promised to call us back.

 

[StageLeft]

Ah, so anytime I go to that site my loading up the image on AT&T lets AT&T see that I went to the website? Seems fairly stupid of them to do that, not just because of PR, but also because they can't do a damn thing with it. I have no shame in saying I signed up for the list, along with everyone else in the country!

 

[Ornery]

<IMG BORDER="0" NAME="DCSIMG" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="1" SRC="http://g6589dcs.nyc2.aens.net/DCS000003_6D4Q/njs.gif?dcsuri=/nojavascript">

Why is it, when I search for aens.net on whois, it says, "No match found", but www.aens.net shows AT&T's Customer Information Online? 😕

 

[tcsenter]

Another fascinating 'sexed up' story by The Inquirer...umm...I mean The Register.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: guyver01
Do-Not-Call site has AT&T web bug

The FTC's popular Do Not Call page has been a runaway hit with US consumers, with over five million signing up to avoid spam calls from telemarketers. But the web site hides a little secret: a web bug.

Most users won't be aware that the registry hosts a one pixel by one pixel image: a popular tracking ploy. And where does trail lead but back to AT&T, one of the most persistent telemarketers.

The FTC confirmed that AT&T Managed Services is its contractor, and hosts the website. When we asked if the FTC would consider removing the bug, they promised to call us back.

It doesn't mean anything yet. They talked about this on the screen savers. There's serveral different legit reasons why they would do this and track the actual people logging into the site. The site is managed by AT&T, which does telemarketing, but they have many divisions within AT&T and does not mean it's telemarketing.

The list is not "bugged" by telemarketers...so youre title is a bit misleading. It's tracking users.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: LikeLinus

Originally posted by: guyver01
Do-Not-Call site has AT&T web bug

The FTC's popular Do Not Call page has been a runaway hit with US consumers, with over five million signing up to avoid spam calls from telemarketers. But the web site hides a little secret: a web bug.

Most users won't be aware that the registry hosts a one pixel by one pixel image: a popular tracking ploy. And where does trail lead but back to AT&T, one of the most persistent telemarketers.

The FTC confirmed that AT&T Managed Services is its contractor, and hosts the website. When we asked if the FTC would consider removing the bug, they promised to call us back.

It doesn't mean anything yet. They talked about this on the screen savers. There's serveral different legit reasons why they would do this and track the actual people logging into the site. The site is managed by AT&T, which does telemarketing, but they have many divisions within AT&T and does not mean it's telemarketing.

The list is not "bugged" by telemarketers...so youre title is a bit misleading. It's tracking users.

More specifically, it's for counting users who don't have Javascript enabled.