JUNK E-MAILS are annoying enough. Cold-calls from salespeople—who
invariably catch you just as you’re about to sit down to dinner—are worse.
So spare a thought for residents of Washington Township, a suburb of
Indianapolis, who last August suffered a doubly irritating plague: a spate of
late-night phone calls from a berserk computer.
Marion County sheriff Jim Cottey started out with the best of democratic
intentions. He wanted to tell residents about a forthcoming town meeting, so he
got the TeleResearch Corporation to call 6000 phones with a recorded invitation
between 9 am and 9 pm on the Friday…
