weird phone call, weirder copyright agency behaviour

so i received a phone call this morning on my mobile from 02 9394 7696 looking for a Fran Beisler. the caller said he found the number on onlinebooks website, so i thought this is a wrong number right? no Fran Beisler here...

the caller then said he was calling from copyright agency, and asked whether I knew a Fran Beisler. i said no the name does not ring a bell. the caller said i should check the information on onlinebooks.com.au cos that's where he got my number. i said thanks.

end of call.

i then went to look at onlinebooks.com.au - it's a website for buying and selling second hand text books, and indeed found a listing with my number! who is this silly Fran Beisler woman who doesn't know her own number and instead gave out my number… but hang on, this is actually my ad that i put up 3 years ago! so who is Fran Beisler? the author of the book…duh!

did a bit more digging to see who or what this copyright agency is. appears to be Copyright Agency Limited www.copyright.com.au (http://www.resaleroyalty.org.au also belongs to CAL), and it seems like the caller is trying to get in touch with people who have royalties owing to them… sounds a bit strange to me...

anyway here's some info i found about them...

• Tweet message http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:aJRVuJtWAHcJ:news.priorsmart.com/intellectual-property-rights-tnJu9/+9394+7696&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au
• Comment on 24/09/2010 from another person who received a similar call http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/0293947696
• Message left on a website on 08/06/2010 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-aXuWGSfd-AJ:www.streetsweeper.net.au/crew/+9394+7696&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au
• Message left on a website on 10/06/2010 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:J-2XbW-ZgwgJ:ozline.com/entry/about-2/+9394+7696&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au
• Article from 18/02/2010 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/copyright-staff-get-more-than-they-give-to-authors-and-artists/story-e6frg8n6-1225831556653
• A response (along with editorial comment) from 10/03/2010 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/opinion-analysis/licensing-body-copyright-agency-limited-has-lasting-value/story-e6frgcko-1225838858623

so it seems like this mob have been around for about two decades, and maybe aren't very good at doing their job... maybe i won't bother to ring them back to point out the glaring stupidity of contacting the private seller of a used textbook in order to speak to the author of that book.