Hurting others in the name of righteousness?

"This is the second notice that the factory warranty on your vehicle is about to expire... However, it is not too late... Do not make the mistake of driving without a warranty. Press ___ now to speak to a representative..." HAHA! I am almost able to memorize the entire message I heard on the phone!

I received robo-calls that gave the above message on my cellphone several times this year, along with millions of Americans. Robo-calls also mean robot tele-marketing. A machine auto dials your number and plays a pre-recorded message. If you were interested, they will direct you to a real sales person. The voice-actors (I've heard a male as well as a female version of this message) hired to record this robo-message were very good I must say, sounding polite yet urgent and convincing that there was a real need to extend your automobile warranty.

But it was totally false. There was never a first notice, and the third, forth, fifth, sixth, etc times they called were still the "second notice". They included a number you could press to be taken off the followup list. I pressed that number, but still I did not get taken off the list. I hung up and the robot calls me again the next week.

These robots were just calling random lists of people with untruthful urgency, especially when some Americans who received this unsolicited call did not even own a car!

Irritating? Yes, very. And apparently it angered quite a number of people who congregated on Reddit.com felt they had to take things into their own hands. According to the Wall Street Journal (15 May 2009, pg A1 & pg A10)one of them, Michael Silveira (22 y.o.) rallied others to join him to overload this auto-warranty company's voice-mail. Michael left voice messages containing nothing but a recording of Rick Astley's 1987 hit song 'Never Gonna Give You Up'. Just in case you don't know that song, I included it below.

(Watch for that bartender's stunt of running up the wall! Amazing!)

Anyway that brought a grin to my face because I thought that it is such a funny prank! But shortly as I continued to read the newspaper article, and wiped the smile off my face. Like locusts, serotonin-like anger has prompted many (usually harmless) people who were kept updated on reddit.com to swarm attack the company, taking justice or revenge into their own hands.

Here's what I lifted off the from the WSJ article Peeved at Auto-Warranty Calls, a Web Posse Strikes Back by Geoffrey A. Fowler about what they did:
- left messages of threats and offers of rude services and threatened arson
- entered into the company's voice mail system somehow (trespassing) using the saved messages for more information on the company, and worked on a virtual map to extensions 300 through 490 on the system
- changed voice-mail greetings on the company's system
- apparently some who found the company owner's address honked their car horns outside his home, and another person who lived near the company offered other reddit.com users to go to the office and take photos of people who work there.

'A new generation uses online mobs to launch swarm-style attacks aimed at shutting down Web sites or at disrupting business in ways that an individual never could' - Geoffrey A. Fowler, WSJ Journalist.

The article by Geoffrey A. Fowler whom I based most of this blog post on, also has a comments area, so that WSJ members can post their views. Rather than feeling appeased, many of the comments were still angry comments even though the appropriate authorities are already onto the auto-warranty company. Several comments were directed at the company's president David P. Tabb and his ethically dubious history in business. The comments label him , ask Mr. Fowler the WSJ Journalist to continue writing him down. One commenter put down David P. Tabb's home address for all to see, and included links to expose more of Mr. Tabb's previous crimes.

Other ranting comments range from politicians call, to a remix of the Lord's prayer, to Obama, to other companies doing the same thing, such as this guy Raymond Philips who commented this on the WSJ (my blog readers, please do not contact this guy):
"
Company: Transcontinental Warranty, Inc.
Address: 1700 NW 64th St., #400 Ft Lauderdale, FL 33309
Alt Addr: PO Box 668787 Pompano Beach, FL 33066
Phone: 888-998-9893
Fax: 954-776-3767
Web Site: tawarranty.com
Email: customercare@tawarranty.com
Owner: Christopher D. Cowart - President/CEO
Business Start Date: 6/6/2007
Company ID: 92009212
After a lot of effort, I managed to obtain Mr. Cowart's phone number and called him to complain. I told him every time his telemarketers called me, I would call him. He apologized, took my name and phone number, and promised not to call me again. Six days later his telemarketers violated that promise. I immediately called him to complain once again. If you are being pestered by this dubious scofflaw, I suggest you call and complain to him personally. His personal cell phone number is 954-980-1394
"

I acknowledge and will not deny that these people were very upset. Hurting someone else rarely brings real peace though. Ganging up in swarms, putting other's addresses and private phone numbers in public, encouraging others to harass or stalk the person is a very hurtful thing to do, even though it seems justifiable. I hope more people might eventually believe that in the end, every man has to bear the responsibility of their actions, including actions that were done out of revenge. Sigh~ May we receive divine patience.