On (21 Oct 02) Steve Asher wrote to George Pope...
 SA> I had a brazen rep from AAPT (mobile phone co) come to the door a few
 SA> days ago offering a free mobile phone. I asked him what the catch was,
 SA> & he just laughed & repeated the offer of a free phone. I told him I
 SA> wasn't interested.

Most likely he was just a dumb shill who believed what they told him --
that he's doing you a favour in giving you a free phone, as an awareness
campaign for their product/service! :P

What annoyed me most is the day a long-distance seller showed up at my
suite's outside back door with a clipboard, and his first words were,
"Hi, I'm here to sign you up for your long distance savings. . . What's
your name, plesae?"

I said that my name was The Guy Who Is Going To Have the Fraud Patrol of
the Local Police on His Ass If He Didn't Leave the Property Immediately!

(there were a lot of old/brainless people in those apartments, who would
hear his opening pitch and just welcome him in, thinking they must've
called him or something. . . :P

 SA> On the subject of mobile phones, I live in a medium rise building,
 SA> with
 SA> a cluster of transmitters on the roof. The laws here are very
 SA> favourable
 SA> to phone cos wanting to add more stuff, which is defined as "low
 SA> impact"
 SA> if it only adds 2 metres or so extra height above the building.
 SA> "Dedicated"
 SA> towers are not "low impact", & thus are harder to get
approval as
 SA> local
 SA> councils & residents have more say over their installation.

We've got those dishes on the roof, too, but can't say too much being
that this building is highly subsidized rentals! :P  (I'm paying $200
for a suite easily worth 4-6 times that amount!)

 SA> mud, noise etc etc, & now a large metal box under the bathroom window.
 SA> I
 SA> object to the box & am trying to have it removed or redesigned, with
 SA> little
 SA> success so far, but emailed the telco (Hutchison) asking for
 SA> cooperation.

Hey, it's THEIR box, soyou can't just destroy it, but it's YOUR window,
and if you want to dispose of buckets of dirty dishwater via there,
that's your business, nu?

 SA> fenced-off area by the box & the lack of observation powers of their
 SA> "investigator". If that doesn't make much sense, just
imagine a large
 SA> metal box under the bathroom window, with a dead & bloody pigeon next
 SA> to
 SA> it. Choice!

That could work, too, especially if you get a nice colour snapshot of it
off to your local media!

 SA> Yes - I've been here for nearly 10 years, & still get occasional mail
 SA> for the previous owners - I might start to assume their identity, as
 SA> they are still apparently active in various databases at this address.

Why not?  Then you, too, can join the ranks of those, for example, who
get pre-approved credit cards in the name of their pets! *LOL*

 SA>  GP> What ticked me off is when the Voter's List here in BC provided
 SA> my
 SA>  GP> home address to junk mail purveyers! :(
 SA>
 SA> This is the same as the Electoral Roll? a list of all registered
 SA> voters
 SA> with their full names & addresses for taking part in eections. This is

That'd be it, I guess. . .

 SA> provided to members of parliament together with "demographic" info,
 SA> all
 SA> the better to target political propaganda at us, & also kept at post
 SA> offices as a "public record" that anyone can examine. It
is also sold
 SA> to companies such as Acxiom, who use it in their datawarehouses.

It wasn't just the government/MPs/etc. who had my name/address, but even
TV-Guide!

Your friend,
<+]::-{)}  (Cyberpope(the Bishop of ROM!))
Ask me how to connect with me in any of 5 different Instant Messengers

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