This year, many people have received symptomatic calls to mobile phones from unknown numbers. A lot was written and talked about, warning about possible abuses and frauds in case the call from abroad is returned. There is also a new generation of telephone sales of products and services.
Recently, an algorithmic matrix has been included in the story, that is, some versions of artificial intelligence, so more and more often such calls are no longer made by living persons, as they were until recently, but on the other side we hear the software voice of a digital machine. And with that there is no discussion or negotiation. One-way communication (is it communication at all if it's one-way?) for a one-dimensional man.
Calls arrive at all times and times, there is no appropriate or inappropriate period of the day. Who cares about classic drinks when the goals are to advertise and sell at any price. Or "just" make a phone survey. Therefore, many of us are justifiably irritated by such practices. Consequently, the appropriate state regulatory agencies, such as the Data Protection Agency and the Consumer Protection Agency, had to be involved in all of this. Institutions are the ones that will possibly be at hand when trying to solve a particular problem in the endless branches of consumer capitalism, but they do not open up any important questions that would capture the systemic dimension of it through critical intervention.
For example, what is the relationship between the status of a citizen and the identity of a consumer? Or, what is the relationship between democratic society and market capitalism? Is there room for antagonism? Instead, if we explain our "case" politely and argumentatively and be patient enough, it is possible that we will receive answers to queries from the mentioned addresses in the form of suggestions as to what could be done specifically.
Very often, such answers are expressed in the discourse of bureaucratic formalism, a kind of forerunner of the mentioned software language of artificial intelligence. We also have a problem with the logical settings in the answers that such agencies offer us. For example, there is a relatively simple and quick way to get rid of unwanted calls. It is necessary to send a request online to the Croatian Communications and Media Agency (HAKOM) to register us in the "Do Not Call" consumer register.
But the real question is why and how our private phone numbers became publicly available to sales agencies, marketing companies, trading offices and similar market players.
Shouldn't things work the other way around, shouldn't they ask for permission to access our personal data? Who among us voluntarily agreed to have his/her number in the Internet phone book? And what will we do with the elderly, the generation that is not affiliated to the internet world to a significant extent? A cynic will say let their children and/or grandchildren help them, thereby sending a terribly bad message.
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