Since I first discovered that escort business lines in Orlando were being blocked in area resorts, the methods have certainly evolved. Make no mistake – the simple techniques of past are still in operation, though at a more advanced stage; however, other means became necessary as technology (and phones) progressed and improved.
Back in the early days it was all about blocking escort business telephone numbers in hotel PBX systems and also programming at the telco central office in the case of one particular telco. It took me a good year to figure out the
how back in 1993-94, but few could manage to wrap their minds around it. I met with statements that it could not be done and was impossible – from telephone company security, believe it or not. Hell, if they were
that stupid, no wonder it was easily implemented. Denial, denial, and more denial topped with a jab of “that's crazy”. Yet it was so simple when we look back today.
To simplify how it worked with the old PBX systems: There were a variety of PBX systems on the market and many had such a “blocking” feature. It was as simple as the tech guy programming the PBX to block a list of telephone numbers from being dialed from a block of rooms, say rooms reserved through a convention services company for a specific convention. Yes, PBX systems had a call blocking feature – still, I was called “crazy” and the fact that this was even technically possible was denied by everyone.
By the time the attendees arrived and checked-into their rooms that list of numbers was blocked and that conventioneer couldn't dial a number on on the list from his room. Other rooms not reserved for the specific large convention at that resort could dial the number without trouble. This caused many to believe there were no blocks at all. In
Memoirs I used the example of a convention booked at the Dolphin Hotel and discussed our investigation – the large convention of 900 attendees experienced the blocking; the smaller convention of 100 attendees did not. This is discussed in-depth in the book.
Back in those days there was also blocking at the central office level. I know this for fact as payphones on Disney property were also blocking the escort business numbers. The telephone company at that time was Vista United Telecommunications – the first all-digital telephone company in the world; however, in early 2001 Vista United was acquired by Smart City. This is also discussed in the book. Read more about Smart City advances here:
Smart City: A Magic Phone CompanyMore Advances brought new forms of BlockingAs time progressed so does the technology utilized by the blockers. Website blocking entered the equation and conventioneers searching for escort business websites hit a wall in Orlando area resorts. This later evolved into blocking using WiFi. But the issue with both was that some callers still got through when using a more advanced phone or not using the hotel's WiFi or saving the telephone number on the website before they left home. There is no sense in repeating myself – read more about this in:
Hotels Using WiFi to Block and CensorThe Blockers found New SolutionsThe practice of blocking escort service telephone numbers has certainly evolved since the early days, and even in the last year. We are dealing with an entirely different animal today. In my opinion there's a Lockheed Martin satellite involved and we have moved to an entirely different scale with added participants. If you live in Orlando you know who Big Brother is around here and I am not going to expound on that statement. Sound crazy?
I have a website that I have used in research for quite some time. Let me offer a sample of results from my ongoing research:
In late January of 2011 – the Golf Merchandise Show brought 45,000 people to International Drive and Disney resorts. This many people will fill-up many resorts in both areas, and then of course there were other smaller conventions going on at the same time. Result:
Not a single caller from any resort on International Drive or Lake Buena Vista / Disney area. Plenty of callers from out-of-the-way places, such as nearby Brevard County, Lake County, Volusia County, Polk County, and Seminole County. A handful of callers from deteriorated motels on the 192 strip in Kissimmee, but none from sizable resorts in Kissimmee or Osceola County.
The results are not believable, so it is a good thing that I have a couple of witnesses and take great notes for my research.
In February and March the same crap continued. We had many conventions in Orlando, including a list with 30,000+ attendees, and not a single phone call from anyone booked in any nice resort in Orange or Osceola counties. The website implements a tracking of sorts and was viewed an average of 600 times daily with at 200+ unique IP visits – that is daily! Some days the website had 1000+ visits. Yet not a single telephone call, even when switching telephone numbers and including a second number. It is as if the entire I-4 corridor through Orlando and Kissimmee has the numbers blocked, and that screams satellite.
I have one other party with an Orlando website to compare notes with. That party has experienced the same problems and still books calls, but the calls are the typical non-convention outside area calls. So is it busy? Sure, if you opened a service in Orlando to book drunk idiots out at UCF, men in groups in dumpy apartments, or people in surrounding counties.
As technology evolves, so do the blockers.
