So today while we were in the car our friends phone rang not once but twice with robo-callers trying to hawk stuff.
It was then I had the thought – I wonder how secure those robo-diallers are. Just imagine being able to hack into one and be able to change the outgoing message to something totally rude and dismissive of the telemarketer. Here’s a script I imagined you might put on the robo-caller:
“Hey there I’m a rude fucking robot and I’ve been hacked. Heap all your scorn and derision upon the businesses participating in this service. Have blessed day.”
That last part was because a cashier in a supermarket said that to me. I thanked her for it. She was being very pleasant and I saw no reason to go into Atheist beast mode. It’s a lesson I learned when I was a kid to choose my battles.
I noticed something else down here in Georgia, people are friendlier than I’d been told to expect. Really nice change from the northeast.
Spewing Truth in the face of Lies 
lord, I wish we could do something about those blasted robocalls! We took the land line out completely because it got so bad during the last election. We were getting 15 – 30 calls a day. The cell phone hasn’t been too bad but I’m still getting about a dozen calls a week from numbers I don’t recognize. I don’t pick up if the number isn’t recognized and they always hang up after 2-3 rings before it goes to voice mail.
I did make the mistake of answering a couple of those. One very concerned young woman told me I was going to go to prison for tax fraud if I didn’t immediately run to Walmart and buy several hundred dollars in gift cards. She hung up when I started laughing. Another told me my grandson had gotten arrested for drug possession after a car accident and, well, you get the idea. Don’t have grandchildren. I admit I was tempted to string him along just for entertainment value, but I lost patience.
So yes, the idea of hacking those bastards is very, very appealing.
And it really isn’t hacking per se – it’s all based on voicemail systems and if you guess the 4 digit passcode of the mailbox pushing the message you can hack it.