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"The phone keeps ringing, it has become a nightmare": The plague of the zinc in the ultra-Orthodox sector

"The hangover", in the language of sound-disconnection, has become a disturbing phenomenon on the part of a variety of commercial entities, which appeal to kosher telephone users. The repeated inquiries of content providers in the sector disrupted the routine of citizens, who went out of their way to try to block the method, and received the support of the Minister of Communications. "They wake you up in a panic"

• Cellular companies

Yaki Adamkar

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Yehuda Kuperberg's phone kept ringing. Every day he would get at least four zigzags on his personal phone, on unusual days it would reach ten, including at night and at work. Each time he returned a call to the number he had been called, he would rediscover that they wanted to sell him a new product. News and current affairs, fundraisers, gossip, lectures, announcements about demonstrations, protests and even jokes.

When the harassment and choking took over his agenda, hurting his sleep at night and disrupting his routine, he decided not to anymore. Kuperberg documented everything and went to court. He had a documented list of at least 80 cysts, which he attached as a key document in a lawsuit he filed with the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court. He filed the lawsuit against Yamot Moshiach, a content provider in the ultra-Orthodox sector, which he calls in his lawsuit "the queen of cynicism and telephone harassment," and wants compensation in the amount of NIS 30,000 for the damage caused to him.

In the defense of Kuperberg's claim, the Days of Christ claimed that there was no cause of action against her because she was "only a manufacturer and supplier of a technological system and does not send messages and of course is not responsible for their content," and just as Samsung or Apple cannot be sued. You can come to her with complaints. But Kuperberg insists that on the issue of the zincs the story is different since the company itself makes money from the zincs.

"On Friday in the middle of the night I got a cold." An ultra-Orthodox man talking on a cell phone (Photo: ShutterStock)

But Kuperberg is not alone. "Zinc", in the language of sound-detachment, has in recent years become a popular and disturbing phenomenon on the part of a variety of commercial entities. Your cell phone rings and stops immediately. There is no voicemail, no SMS, and you are dying to know who was looking for you. What to do? Most of them call back, and where on the other line you will find the friend you thought was looking for you from his new phone number, an advertisement is waiting for you. Content providers earn the link fee, and so they sweep millions of shekels a year.

Those who absorb the zincs more than anyone else are the kosher subscribers in the cellular companies, usually members of the ultra-Orthodox sector. In the absence of internet and text messaging, phone calls have become the significant conduit for conveying marketing messages or dragging consumers to listen to content lines. The case of D., 47, from Ashdod, was unusual, but it reflects the reality of the harassment most of all.

"On Friday in the middle of the night I got a cold," he said. "It was about 2 o'clock at night. I woke up in a panic. I have a child in a boarding school, I have elderly parents who were ill at the time in Corona, I thought something had happened. Who calls us at such a late hour? I came back and heard a reference to a content line. It was a total minute of panic but A minute when I thought the worst of all had happened. "

More on Walla! NEWS

Millions industry against the rabbis: The battle for the ultra-Orthodox news lines is coming to a close

To the full article

"It was about 2:00. I woke up in a panic." Kosher cell phone (Photo: Nati Shochat, Flash 90)

D. tried to talk about it with the Ministry of Communications, but he received no answer. "Everyone threw me from one to the other. Everyone removed the responsibility from themselves."

Avraham, an ultra-Orthodox man from Bnei Brak, stopped getting excited about the nuisance. "I learned to recognize content line prefixes and I just ignore them," he said. "Several weeks ago I saw on the display a prefix number that was known to me as a prefix of zinc and I did not refer. The fifth time I broke down and answered, it turns out that in the girl's nursery they exchanged a phone number and the prefix was like content lines. The girl did not feel well that day. In the first ring. " He said, "Calling every day, it has already become a nightmare."

Handel: I will intervene in the phenomenon of ringing-disconnection in kosher lines

In 2018, the Knesset approved the law banning the sending of advertisements in spam calls, messages through an automatic dialing system and performing a "censure" but since then, as if nothing has changed. Dozens of testimonies show that content providers are illegally using "censorship", and recently even the Ministry of Communications has received countless inquiries claiming that companies and entities are violating the law "grossly".

Another person who is still fighting the tsunami is actually the Rabbinical Committee for Communications, a body that oversees the "training floor" in the cellular companies. When the committee recognizes a number that is choking, it blocks it in a way that cannot be returned to it, and in any case it stops chatting. The reason the committee is fighting the zealots is a desire to protect kosher phone users from the nuisance, and at the same time prevent access to content lines - which is the essence of the mandate for which kosher numbers are purchased.

The content companies affected by the blockade are fighting back in the rabbinical committee, but precisely on Saturday, Communications Minister Yoaz Handel announced that he had made a decision to intervene in the "phenomenon of ring-disconnection in the kosher lines of the ultra-Orthodox public." Despite this, factors involved in the ultra-Orthodox media market question the minister's ability to change the "evil of the decree," as they put it. According to them, "the law did not help, what will help here? You need a five-pound hammer here for something to move."

The sector doubts its ability to change the "evil of the decree." Handel (Photo: Adina Wallman, Knesset Spokeswoman)

Today, at a time when every mobile customer has a package of minutes known in advance, and the consumer pays the same amount in any case, it does not make sense to continue collecting the connectivity from which the content providers sweep millions of shekels a year. Sources in the Ministry of Communications estimate that if the connectivity is eliminated, the phenomenon of zincs will also disappear from the world.

But not only that, Bezeq and the small cellular companies that are forced to pay their competitors huge sums for the link fee find themselves affected by the method, and industry experts believe that canceling the link fee will lead to a further reduction in the price of cellular packages. "We hope that the minister will act on this level, there have been orderly work plans in the Ministry of Communications for years" but until then, they say, "a lot of water will pass through Jordan."

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