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VoIP to Fuel Plague of 'Dialing for Dollars'/Spam
Ant writes "Broadband Reports says Internet News is exploring how telemarketers world-wide are realizing they can dodge long-distance costs (and U.S. "Do Not Call" restraints) by voice spamming VoIP users. Different from SPIT (spam over internet telephony) because it's not automated, an analyst in the article predicts homes and businesses could see some 150 calls a day from overseas call centers."
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
You can automatically block all VoIP call from your phone for just $1. For $5.99 you can add a whitelist. Or you can just tell all your friends to get a MaBell line and save that $5.99! Sounds like a win-win for the Bells!
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
To answer your question, most telemarketing is either collections or credit cards, or charities. I have had many friends that have worked in collections and charities and you wouldnt belive the amount of positive sales they would get.
TruePunk | Games
However, we're also going to need some software tools. A lot of sites, my own workplace included, are rolling out VoIP systems. Some of these are COTS systems of various levels of quality. Others (like us) are using open systems like Asterisk PBX and SIP Express Router (SER). Currently, as far as I have seen neither the proprietary nor the open tools have what it takes regarding abuse rejection:
They already do this over standard dialup.
I get phone spam from the US, and I'm in the UK do-not-call equivalent (the TPS), so never get any UK based phone spam.
You can always tell it though... it's international with the number witheld, and the moment you pick it up someone with a US accent starts "Hi, you've won..." (I slam the phone down before he gets any further).
Anyone else would get a message to find another way to contact me to be added to the whitelist, to enter the passcode to get through, or they be routed to /dev/null.
/dev/null. I would sort of expect these options to be built into the software and easily enabled by end users as that would make the most sense.
Anyone showing up as "UNKNOWN", "UNAVAILABLE", or originating numbers coming from outside the country would automatically be re-routed to
This is already available and has been for years. It's called Anonymous Call Rejection(ACR)
I'm sorry if I Slashdot The Campbells.
The article is talking about marketting spam launched using VOIP on the caller side. The receiver will get the call on any old telephone hook-up IE POTS or VOIP.
A firewall won't do a thing to protect you. A caller ID based black list of challenge/response system could though.
Why?
Because the user has many software tools availible here that simply aren't doable on landline systems. Hell, the easiest first method of screening is using a simple whitelist. Can you do that with normal landlines???
Since voip is run by software on your computer you *have* the possiblity of applying code to the screening process, in other words CAPCHA of one sort or the other, can you do this with landlines?? the captchas don't even have to be complicated. It could be a verbal command requesting the user do do a simple task (type a number, say a word, look up something on website, send an email). What ever it is, this is to time-comsuming for spammers. All of this is simply not possible on landlines.
I can't help but think that this "prediction" is simply the drawing of a parallel from email spam to voip spam. The reason why email spam is hard to block, is that you don't want to throw away legitimate email. Why is throwing away legit email bad? Because the legit sender already sent it and assumes you got it and will read it! That doesn't apply with voip. If you block a legit caller he immediately knows you didn't get his call! For this reason applying spam filters to voip is much easier than email.
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sigamajig...
As someone who worked as a Telemarketer for about a year, i can tell you that this will happen. the company that I recently worked for was putting together a "voIP team" to tackle all the new tech popping up around it. Sad that this is the world we live in now, where people feel the only way to sell a product is to market it directy to someone over something as personal as a Telephone.
"The beast in me is caged by frail and fragile bars" - Johnny Cash
I dont think this will ever happen, Ive been in telemarketing for 5 years and the hardest sells are always the customers who receive more cold calls a day from other telemarketing companies. Now if everyone was getting 150 calls per day I dont care what the call costs are, paying my wage is too expensive for my boss if im never going to make a sale.
serenity now!
It depends on how the telemarketer connects to the VoIP network. If they're coming in from the PSTN, then the source IP will be the PSTN gateway where they enter the IP world.
While this isn't so bad if the telemarketer is running their own analog-to-IP telephone adaptor/IAD/Asterisk etc., it is quite problematic if the gateway belongs to a major carrier for a large exchange (say, for example, in NYC.)
PSTN carriers can't risk common carrier status by filtering or denying access to telemarketers (e.g. they can't operate like an ISP with an AUP against spamming) so they can't stop the traffic themselves. And you could be cutting off connectivity to large portions of the PSTN every time you apply a filter. Even if it worked for awhile, eventually you would notice severe end-to-end connectivity problems.
Even easier with an Asterisk phone system. I already have whitelists, blacklists, and greylists setup. Quite easy really.
I don't get ANY telemarketing calls anymore and I'm not even on the DoNotCall list.
Go to the Sheriff with the judgement and hire him to go in and start confiscating property. Show up with the Sheriff to helpfully point out particular items that they should take. The Sheriff with sell the items at auction, take his cut, give you the rest. At that time you will have the opportunity to purchase (along with the rest of the public) some of the choice items that you suggested the Sheriff should take, cheap. If it weren't for mechanisms such as this, nobody would pay any judgements. Make the system work for you.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
Yes, the cell phone companies want you to use your phone, but they don't want your cell service to become useless. They know that, if the utility of the service drops, people will disconnect in search of another carrier or another way to communicate. Besides, even if telemarketing calls go unanswered by people using Caller ID to screen, those unanswered calls still clog their switches and towers, reducing the number of legitimate calls that can get through. And believe me, this is something the cell companies do not want.