Ged Carroll

Blog

  • TPS

    New regulations come into effect on the 25th June 2004 in the UK that will allow businesses to opt out of receiving unsolicited sales calls by registering with the TPS (Telephone Preference Service).

    – Registration takes 28 days to take effect. From the 25th June it will be an offence to make an unsolicited cold call to any number on the TPS list.

    – In the case of sub-contracted cold calling, the legal liability for ensuring no calls are made to numbers listed lies with the client.

    – Another legal requirement under the legislation is that all businesses must hold a “do not call” list of telephone numbers of people who have contacted you directly and asked that you do not cold call them, even though they may not have registered with the TPS. They are legally required to hold this list and we will need a copy of this “do not call” list.

    – At present, approximately 20 per cent of the companies called do not put sales calls through, either blocking calls or routing to voicemail.

    – DMA press release (Word document)

    – TPS website

    It is an interesting initiative, but only the honest actors will obey the rules. At the moment email is the new frontier for unwanted communications. More related posts here.

  • Lollapalooza 2004

    Lollapalooza 2004

    US music festival Lollapalooza has a similar standing in the UK to Glastonbury or the Mean Fiddler events. It is best known to UK audiences for appearing in at least one Simpsons episode (where Cypress Hill jam with a symphony orchestra). Due the reaganomic policies of the Bush administration Lollapalooza 2004 will not be going ahead this year.

    A message from Perry

    The organisers wrote on their website “A MESSAGE FROM PERRY

    To all my Fellow Artisans, Activists, and Feverish Supporters,

    It is with heart gripped despair that I inform you of Lollapalooza’s disbandment for the summer of 2004. To say that you terribly miss something that never was born is somewhat odd, yet in this case, it is quite accurate.

    I hope you can accept my apologies for not providing you with the summer that you had your hearts set on. I tried very hard to keep us on course; heading straight into the most ferocious musical storm in history. We were not able to continue; we were taking on huge financial losses.

    And still, I want you to know that I fought for our lives into the final hour.

    Please know that I value your talents and look forward to meeting you again – a little later on to re-discover ourselves as friends. If it makes you feel any better, I am in the same boat as most of you; “Only loaded with talent.” But with talent like ours, they can’t hold us down for long.

    Upon reflection, I conclude there is a story here. It is the story of a musical community under the influence. No, silly, it’s not drugs. This is an influence far more damaging and threatening, as in: “They are threatening to sue us for damages.” My prayer is that we live to fight another day and walk together at the victory parade.

    We hoped for comfort but we’ve never felt too safe. And in these hard times, we’ve had to navigate through. Unexhausted; is our virtue,

    Peretz

    PS. I am still looking for a shining moment or two for us this summer. I hope you will receive me when I call.

    LOLLAPALOOZA 2004 CANCELS ALL DATES

    “You can imagine the dismay I share at this moment with the artists and musicians who were looking forward to the tour. Lollapalooza could no longer see fit to continue this year. Our plight is a true indication of the general health of the touring industry and it is across musical genres. Unexhausted is our virtue. We are taking Lollapalooza back and plan on rebuilding and recreating the festival in surroundings more conducive to the cultural experience we’ve become known for.”

    – Perry Farrell”

    More related posts here.

  • Fahrenheit 9 11

    A posting on Interesting-People.org. US adverts for Moore’s movie Fahrenheit 9 11 could be stopped from July 30 if the Federal Election Commission (FEC) accepts the legal advice of its lawyers.

    At the same time, a Republican-allied 527 soft-money group is preparing to file a complaint against Moore’s film with the FEC for violating campaign-finance law.

    The FEC’s have been advised that political documentary filmmakers may not air television or radio ads referring to federal candidates within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election.

    The opinion is generated under the new McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law, which prohibits corporate-funded ads that identify a federal candidate before a primary or general election.

    This could also affect promotion of a number of other upcoming political documentaries and films, such as Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War, which opens in August, The Corporation, about democratic institutions being subsumed by the corporate agenda, or

    Silver City, a recently finished film by John Sayles that criticizes the Bush administration, The Hunting of the President, which investigates whether Bill Clinton was the victim of a vast conspiracy, could be subject to regulations if it mentions Bush or members of Congress in its ads.

    Since the FEC considers the Republican presidential convention scheduled to begin Aug. 30 a national political primary in which Bush is a candidate, Fahrenheit 9 11 and other politically oriented documentaries could not air any ad mentioning Bush after July 30. More related content here.

  • Counite

    I received an email today from the development director of a new social and business networking site called Counite based in Altrincham, a town in the Cheshire ‘stockbroker’ belt between Chester and Stockport. They had apparently culled my name from existing sites that I has subscribed to.

    In the mail I was offered “We will provide you with a free 12-month subscription and would just ask for you to visit the site on a regular basis after the launch, invite some of your business or social contacts along and provide us with some monthly feedback on the site performance. We can ensure you that you will be impressed with the features and functionality, and will greatly benefit from this membership.”

    I was a bit perturbed by Counite with regards the free 12-month subscription statement that implies Counite may get expensive afterwards unlike LinkedIn, Orkut or AlwaysOn Ziabatsu.

    Some of their own words about Counite “This exciting new site takes a global approach to networking using a complex contact management application that identifies your connection to other Networkers. We believe it will be the most comprehensive networking site ever launched with the industry’s most advanced communication tools including Voice over IP.” So the project is buzzword compliant for any vulture capitalist with some pennies burning a hole in their pocket.

    The sites launch follows the demise of some of the UK’s first generation of networking sites: BuddyNetwork and Pollen, so we’ll see how they go. More related content here.

  • Free party clampdown

    An old clubbing pal of mine from Birkenhead Si forwarded on this interesting article in the Western Morning News. According to the article police are preparing to use the wide ranging powers of the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003 to clamp down on unauthorised open-air gatherings – a free party; in conjunction with provisions already made by sections 63 – 67 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. With its definition of music as an emission of a succession of repetitive beats, thus allowing unscheduled opera performances but not young peoples music.

    While I can understand people’s concerns over noise; I am more concerned about the right to associate, freedom of expression (by speech, music or visual media) and the two standards allowed in the law making free party attendees second-class citizens.

    And politicians wonder why so many voters are apathetic?

    May it have something to do with:

    • the persistent erosion of voters rights?
    • a lack of clear differentiation between many of the social policies of both major political parties?
    • legislation that no longer represents the social mores of much of the electorate?
    • a collectively small amount of life experience amongst professional politicians, the significant majority of which are trained lawyers?
    • a cynical political process that means that politicians go after softer targets rather than dealing with the big policing issues in the UK, such as organised crime, rise in violent crime, white collar and corporate crime?

    Si also generously included a link to lots of information on where there might be a local free party here, just remember its free as in speech; the parties do cost money to put on. More culture related posts here.