Phone prank

A telephone prank (also fun phone , joke call or phone fun ) is a phone call with the aim of putting the person called in a bizarre or unusual situation in order to amuse himself with his reaction. Such pranks are popular today in some media outlets, particularly on radio and television stations, as comedy elements.

history

By Erich Kastner , there is the poem The bewitched phone , portrays the phone pranks.

As entertainment, they first became popular in German-speaking countries in the early 1960s through Peter Frankenfeld's Valsch Ferbunden , and in the 1980s again through Karl Dall , whose pranks were broadcast live on television. In the program presented by Kurt and Paola Felix “ Do you understand fun? “, Which was broadcast in the first program of the ARD , he was u. a. represented as a chaotic projectionist and fun phone operator. However, live broadcasts have not caught on. Today, pranks are mainly recorded, edited and reworked by professional telephones in the recording studio. The television series Crank Yankers recreates recorded phone pranks as a puppet show with muppet- like hand puppets .

Since the 1990s, more and more phone pranks have been broadcast on the radio. Well-known programs and protagonists include Bodo Bach , Der kleine Nils , Studio Braun , Paul Panzer , Stefan Raab (Professor Hase) , Radio PSR “Sinnlos Telefon”, Elvis Eifel and, on Austrian radio, the Ö3-Callboy . Popular examples from the USA are the Jerky Boys and the Touch Tone Terrorists.

Pranks on the phone in which the caller introduces himself as a real person are trickier: In September 2008, the head of the Hessian SPD, Andrea Ypsilanti , was tricked by a caller from the radio station ffn who pretended to be Franz Müntefering and credibly imitated his voice. This led to investigations by the public prosecutor's office, as the recording was published on YouTube without the consent of the persons concerned and is currently available. After the phone call, Ypsilanti declined to publish the recording on the radio ffn. The exact way how the recording was made on the Internet is not known, the only thing that is certain is that the YouTube user mole02008 published a video on September 15, 2008 with a reference to the recording outside of YouTube, in which he claimed that he could For legal reasons, do not publish the video directly. After this link, the recording was published by various YouTube users on YouTube. The recording was accessed over 100,000 times. In the conversation, Ypsilanti apologized for the fact that the Hessian Jusos are currently not "controllable". When the impersonated Franz Müntefering asked Ypsilanti to let Hessen Roland Koch , she reacted very negatively and claimed that she “couldn't do that”.

In December of the same year, a stranger posed to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari as Indian Foreign Minister ( Pranab Mukherjee ) and threatened military means if the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks were not extradited. This call put the Pakistani Air Force on alert until the mistake could be cleared up.

In December 2012, an employee of the Royal King Edward VII's Hospital in London committed suicide after being involved in a telephone prank broadcast nationwide by radio station 2Day FM . She thought the ill-imitated voices of Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II were real and passed the call on to a medical worker. She was also deceived and gave the callers detailed information about the health of the pregnant Kate Middleton . After that she was mocked. There were subsequently nationwide rallies in the UK and Australia, where the radio station is located. The radio presenters Mike Christian and Mel Greig received the harshest criticism, as the dead employee was also a mother of two . Greig, who imitated the voice of Her Royal Highness Queen Elisabeth in a clumsy, gimmicky manner and thus made a significant contribution to the event, had asked their family and the public for forgiveness in an initial reaction to the death of the employees, she was honestly shocked. She also hopes the victim isn't a mother too. The drama made waves.

Legal

Recording calls on tape without the consent and consent of the interlocutor is punishable as a violation of the confidentiality of the word according to § 201 StGB . However, under certain circumstances, as are the case with such telephone jokes, consent can only be obtained in the course of the conversation if, in the event of non-consent, the destruction of the material already recorded is ensured.

Fake calls for help or pranks by the rescue services, police or fire brigade are generally punishable under Section 145 of the Criminal Code.

Under certain circumstances, the facts can in such calls offense ( § 185 Criminal Code), stalking ( § 238 of the Criminal Code) or very loud noise when generating injury ( § 223 of the Criminal Code) must be satisfied. In addition to the criminal law consequences, civil law consequences can also arise. Those affected can assert an injunction and also obtain an injunction . It is also possible to claim compensation for pain and suffering.

In Austria, telephone terrorism has been a criminal offense of persistent persecution since July 1, 2006 (Section 107a of the Criminal Code).