Slashdot Mirror
New Gadget Blocks 'Spam' Phone Calls
Smivs writes "The BBC report on a new gizmo that can block/filter spam phone calls. The system basically intercepts all calls. If it recognizes them as a friend or a member of the user's family — numbers on the so-called star list created by the user — it lets them through as normal.
If the caller's number is on a zap list — numbers of telemarketers or other nuisance callers — the device answers it, and all future calls from that number, with an automated message which means the phone does not ring at all.
If the system doesn't recognize the caller's number, or the caller withholds their number, it asks them who they are, puts them on hold and then rings the user's phone.
The user has the option of taking the call, having the system take a message, or they can reject the call and add the number to the 'zap' list.
Users can add callers to their 'star' list by pressing the star button on their phone at any point during a call." So wait, they can't spam me twice? If I press a button? And if they actually show their phone number on my caller ID? What about the auto insurance scammers that hit me 10x/week?
The only criticism that I have is that it rings my phone at all (for an unrecognized number). I would prefer a system where an unknown caller (those not on the white list) has to first identify themselves as a real person (by keying some numbers) and then leave a message. The phone should only actually ring for whitelisted callers, everyone else should have to prove themselves human for the privilege of leaving a message.
The most annoying calls now are the "robo-calls." What really infuriates me about them is that I can't seem to hang up on them (if you try to hang up and pick up the phone later, the message is still playing). This pisses me off because it means that my phone company is somehow in cahoots with these bastards and is essentially letting them hijack my phone line without my permission. What if I needed to make an emergency call and had to wait for the robo-call to go through all its "great offers" before I could even dial out?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
What about the auto insurance scammers that hit me 10x/week?
You can't reason with scammers, they use playground logic. Scam 'em back with a not so new gadget.
My work here is dung.
For me, this would cut out the "firefighters" and "police" charitable funds, and a couple of others that call locally. But the ones that really irk me are the "lower your credit card interest rates" that I get every few days, and it's different caller id each time. Usually falsified caller id. So I would still end up getting about the same number of nuisance calls.
What would be optimal would be the FCC doing their job and shutting the scammers down, but I'm not holding my breath.
Do you have ESP?
Phone whitelist services which make callers you're unsure about go through an extra prompt have existed at least since I was a kid. They're annoying as hell to legitimate callers.
This would be useful not just for spammers and telemarketers, but also for those idiots who just refuse to believe me that no, Nikki doesn't live here, this is not her number and would you please stop calling here 10 times a day already.
I'm pretty sure that all the above and more is possible with an asterisk setup.
"The dew has clearly fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning"
There is a crazy girlfriend option for Asterisk that you can have a blacklist and the phone never rings either. Actually, you can have rules as complicated as you like.
What really infuriates me about them is that I can't seem to hang up on them (if you try to hang up and pick up the phone later, the message is still playing).
How long did you leave the phone on-hook? You might have to hold it a few more seconds so that the exchange can determine that you're trying to end the call and not perform a flash.
If you want to talk to me, deposit $midrange_sum_of_money . I will stop what I'm doing and respond to you. If I think the interruption was justified, you'll get your money back. Otherwise, it's a donation to the Charity of Me. Obviously you can let some people bypass this, at least at some times of the day.
Implicit in this is the belief that if you don't trust me with your cash, or you feel that you don't want to risk the money on my whims, leave a message. And there should be a much smaller charge here too, just to stop the telemarketers clogging that also.
$sum needs to be fairly large, but not cripplingly so. A day's pay? Hmmm. Maybe I should just get an 0906 number for my house....
... and today's pet project has
I simply signed up on the National Do Not Call Registry (US only). That cut the telemarketing calls from several per day to once a month or two. For those that I still receive, I ask them not to call again. Then I file a complaint on the Do Not Call website because they shouldn't have called in the first place.
What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
In future, there are plans for the device to be able to download a list of blacklisted numbers from a central database, which can be dialled into via a modem inside the box.
And this will be updated by the users. It might just work.
I'm more impressed by the whole "virtual receptionist" aspect. That could be handy.
On November 1st, I will be turning off ALL the ringers on my phones. Why? Because the politicians will be bombarding me with calls about how the other guy is Satan incarnate. Some times is backfires. Like the democratic ad against Chamblis here in Georgia. I didn't know that he supported the Fair Tax. Now, I'll vote for him.
I'm sure Asterisk is suitable for this. If you have the time, inclination and oh probably a bit of geek inside you to actually want to try and set this up. But seriously, how many grannies are going to want to set up an Asterisk server that lives in the corner of their living room next to the pot plant and the electric fire, and worry about what it's doing etc? It makes far more sense if you're going to market this to the general public to make it as easy as pressing a button to block future calls from that number, rather than having to fiddle about with a web interface yourself, or call grandson Johnny and get him to come over and fix it.
That's the problem I would have. Probably more than half of the calls I get that are unlisted are calls that I want. The other half are telemarketers. Even though I am on the "Do Not Call" registry, they get around it by either:
a) Pretending to get the wrong number, hanging up quickly when I call them on it.
b) Have some loose (and yes, sometimes legitimate) connection to a "Not for profit and Tax Exempt" business which, at least in Massachusetts is enough for the registry to not apply
c) Is a survey related to some business connection I have. Credit Card companies who sold my info etc.
None of these three are calls that I would pick up, but I just don't see this device weeding them out. I suppose if this device could "answer" then ask for a name, and instead of ringing, play the recorded name... otherwise hang up. That would be good.
This is basically what the "Privacy Manager" feature does on American networks like AT&T, albeit a bit more restrictive. It would answer any calls with no Caller ID automatically, and allow people to record their name; then the Privacy Manager would call you and ask if you want to take the call (similar to the way a collect call works). It would let through all calls with valid Caller ID, though, instead of using a whitelist. We used to have it on our old landline service; unfortunately, our current VoIP provider doesn't offer it.
I'd get one of these in a heartbeat. We already screen our calls based on the Caller ID info displayed anyway, so it would be a nice added step. (I'd love to set up an Asterisk box, but definitely don't have the time...)
I live in an area with a high Hispanic population, and coincidentally have a Spanish last name. I've been on the DNC list for years, but I get all kinds of telemarketers trying to scam me in Spanish. (It's pretty obvious that these are not legitimate nonprofits or companies. They hang up on me once they find out I speak English.) Blocked CID, of course, so it's hard to report them.
They're counting on the fact that most of their Spanish-speaking targets are either unaware of the DNC and other laws, or more likely are illegal and thus afraid to report them to the Feds.
And that's ignoring the peole who are "Conductiing a survey about your telephone service" or "Conducting a survey about how you recieve television"
...call into this auto-answer system?
Will two robot start chatting together? We should definitely put some recording to watch them or else the first two machines that pass turning test might gone unnoticed.
but I would love to set up a touch tone menu for just the telemarketers. --press 1 if you are an annoying caller --press 2 if you are probably just trying to waste my time --press 3 if your intention is to sell me something --press 4 if you just want me to answer your questions for free --but not actually buy anything --press 5 for another menu --press 6 to hear these options again --press 7 seven three three... two three three... five five..one to connect to a live operator (really it would just be another menu but this time with 130 different options spoken in a heavy Scottish slang)
Every couple of days I get a "spam" message from a telemarketer, left directly on my voicemail. The phone never actually rings. That's about as frequent as real telemarketer calls. Doesn't sound like this system would stop those, unfortunately.
Forget blocking telemarketers, this is great for blocking collection agencies and pesky credit card companies. :)
Hmm, sounds like a great Android App, with a community maintainable blacklist where you can list numbers under different groups, etc.
we've already developed this as a premium soft-service & have deployed it at several telcos already. it provides 2 lists: allow & deny & 3 modes allow all, allowed list only & block all. and the telcos provide this service @ as low as INR30.00 per month ( $1)!!! there are several s/w available on symbian which can do this already... i think that the overhead is just as much... adding numbers to the list. apart from that, here in India there is a national DND list, as instructed by the Supreme Court & TRAI... you can get ur number listed on it (toll free ofcourse :P) - no unsolicited calls! and if you do, you know who is in trouble...
Nothing gets my blood pressure rising more than phone calls coming in that are not welcomed. I pay for the phone and it's not for advertisers, political pleadings, scammers and assorted idiots who think I owe them the time of day. I just looked at Amazon and it's not there, make this available to the US and you have a best seller.
Enjoy your Karma, after all you earned it. Feel your Karma Joe, feel it burn.
How dare we answer their robot dialers with a robot answerer!
The telespammers "time" is very valuable :)
Corporatism != Free Market
Isn't it hilarious? The industry has created such an itch that people actually PAY to get rid of them. The mafia of this century, and this time it's legal!
I am the lawn!
For the land line, no tech needed other than an answering machine. You call, you leave a message, and if I know (and want to talk to) you I pick up. If you don't say anything, then you're either a spammer or it probably wasn't very important to begin with.
Bonus: No Caller ID here, so I'm not even responsible for knowing you called (and thus for returning it) if you don't leave a message.
This is really easy to do with Asterisk, however- implementing an Asterisk setup at home is a bit challenging. It's nice to see something like this made into an appliance. This is especially true since you don't have to pay extra for a carrier's "privacy" features to get it.
About fifteen or so years ago I had a modem that came with Cheyenne Bitware voicemail software. It was pretty cool, I set something up similar to this gizmo in TFA.
I had it set up so the voicemail messages and callers went thhrough the PC speakers, so if someone I actually wanted to talk to came on I'd just answer. (caller ID showed the number).
"Hello" (pause so it sounded like a person answered and they would start talking) "Hi, you have reached the mcgrew residence. Press one if you wish to leave a message, two if you are a telemarketer, three if you are with a charity, four of you wish to conduct a survey, five if you represent a political candidate who wants my vote...
I had every chioce leading down a labrynthian rabbit-hole that went in circles. Friends and family knew to hit any key twice or just leave a message.
Much hilarity ensued.
My 77 year old dad, when he gets a telemarketer, just lays the phone down and lets them talk, checking periodically to see if they're still on the line. They want to waste your time? Tit for tat. Telemarketers are WORSE than spammers IMO.
Free Martian Whores!
Sounds like the Advanced Call Manager program I have had on my last two smartphones.
I have it setup with two profiles, "Normal" and "Do not Disturb".
For "Normal", anyone not on the black list and not blocking caller ID can call me.
For "Do Not Disturb", only people on the white list can call me.
Then setup the scheduler to flip between modes automatically, and you're all set... (use "Do Not Disturb" 7-8am, 12-1pm, and 5-6pm).
When a call is denied, it goes directly to voice mail without ringing the phone.
I already do this using Asterisk...
Callers who withhold their number hear a message asking them to unblock their caller id,
Callers with blacklisted numbers get a message telling them their number is blacklisted,
Callers in my whitelist ring my phone at any time of the day or night,
Any other callers ring only during the day, and go direct to voicemail at night.
What i want tho, is something like this for my mobile... I get a lot more junk calls on my mobile, on the landline i'm usually not in and therefore don't notice until i get home and see the missed calls. Surely it must be possible for someone to write an iphone app that behaves in the same way as my asterisk setup - ie telling users to unblock their callerid or their call won't be answered...
Users who explicitly block their callerid are a real pet hate of mine, why would anyone do that unless they have something to hide? If it's a company, just present your main switchboard/advertised number so i can recognise the call.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
What I don't understand is why there aren't more whitelist/blacklist/encryption gadgets for phones nowadays. Don't want the NSA hearing everything you say? Buy an encryption device and have all your friends buy one too, generate some 2048 bit keys and start communicating with confidence. Don't want anyone to call you that you don't know? Get a whitelist device, etc.
I'm one of a LOT of people that I know that hasn't had a land line at home for many years. I can't imagine why somebody would want one. Having a phone ringing at my house all the time with telemarketers would be terrible. Why do people still have land lines at home (assuming cell service is available where you live)?
I don't respond to AC's.
"May I speak to Bob?"
"He is busy. Can you leave a message and he'll call you back?"
"There is no message." Click.
Theses are the telemarketing calls that tee me off. They just waste everyone's time and they are obviously not trying to sell anything since they refuse to give a message.
And even if Bob is there:
"May I please speak to Bob?"
"May I tell him who is calling?"
"It's Joe."
"He says he doesn't know a Joe."
Click.
They refuse to give the name of an organization. The only way to deal with this is:
"May I speak to Bob?"
"This is Bob."
"I am with XYZ company--"
"Please don't call here again." Click.
Only if Bob answers the phone do they tell you what they are calling about. I find that annoying.
It was even worse when I was unemployed and waiting by the phone for a call back from a perspective employer.
There is a script for Asterisk:
http://www.linuxsystems.com.au/astycrapper/
You can route blacklisted numbers to it but more often than not the telemarketer has no callerID. This is way more fun.
A little "firewall" app for iPhone called MCleaner has the exact same functionality and only costs $20.
As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
You know that some lobbyist will pay some legislator (who has their own spam callers, every re-election season) to make this illegal.
We need to then find that legislator, and shoot him/her.
We need to then find that lobbyist, and impale them as an example to others.
Then all will be just a little more 'right' with the world.
-Styopa
I recently put the source code for a (simple) system similar to this on www.SourceForge.net. In the Search: window, enter 'jcblock'.
This is a good product for an average person. An average person is NOT going to be using asterisk in their home. It likely has the option to block anonymous calls, and if not it should in a future version. It's basically just a whitelist of who can call. It should also have an option to whitelist numbers in advance. Numbers not yet listed should be able to be screened at a later date rather than making the screening immediate. Maybe not a perfect product but a step in the right direction.
I see every unsolicited call as an opportunity. If I am in a hurry there are a number of quick responses.
The "National Security drop number" is a good one. You sound agitated and ask them what their security clearance is. When they don't understand you say "this is a top secret number - hos did you get this?". Whatever they say you then become really calm and say "O..K.. don't worry. Just stay on the line and we will soon have this resolved". Move the phone away from your mouth and ask "how is the trace going.... good". They usually hang up really soon.
Another good one is to ask them for their number so you can call them back. Say you never trust anyone unless you made the call. Some actually will give you a number, which you pretend to write down but ignore
Another is the "sexual interest". This takes a little longer, because you have to start by listening as normal. After a bit you say something like "you know, you sound really hot. Do you live anywhere near (somewhere a long way away)?". If they don't hang up then you can start asking what they are wearing, etc. This works really well for other men, they usually can't wait to get off the line. (I wouldn't go to far, I don't think anyone would try to prosecute you for harassing them when they made the call, but stay legal)
Then there's the "in the same line of business". This can actually be used for a quick call, but its best to wait until they finish. Note down a few points then respond with something better. "Actually I work for associated life insurance, and whereas you can guarantee 4% growth I can offer you a policy that will guarantee 4.2%, plus with a discount on the first six months premiums.
Another one is to listen all the way through and then decline for a really illogical reason. They are well rehearsed at the "can't afford it", "already have an alternative" and so on - but "well I would really love too. But you are called Acme associates. I'm afraid that is just incompatible with my star sign. Especially when you call on a Wednesday"
There are plenty more but you get the picture. They are giving you an opportunity for fun.
The one thing that may motivate my lazy ass to build a home VOIP system would be to have a CID blacklist feature.
And even better, a distributed MAPS-style CID blacklist, pointing to say whocalled.us or some similar service.
Two Thousand Eighty-One : A Hopeful View of the Human Future by Gerard K. O'Neil predicted TiVo/DVR and several other things including this, if I recall correctly. Sounds good, though.
I recently posted the source code for a (simple) system similar to this on www.SourceForge.net. In the Search: window, enter: jcblock
Google's grandcentral offers this (they call it call screening), and they offer more too. Currently in Beta. Currently free.
http://www.grandcentral.com/home/features
Screen Callers
Know who's calling and screen unknown callers
ListenInTM
Hear why someone is calling before taking the call
Call Record
Record calls on the fly and access recordings online
Block Callers
Unwanted callers won't be able to reach you anymore
Notifications
Receive voicemail notifications via email or SMS
Ring Different Phones
One number that rings different phones based on who's calling
Greetings
Personalize your voicemail greetings by caller or group
RingShareTM
Go beyond the ring and choose ringback tones for your callers
WebCall Button
Let people call you from a web page without showing your number
CallSwitch
Switch phones in the middle of a call
Click2Call
Call from your addressbook and save your typing
Mobile Access
Visual voicemail for your mobile phone
Judging by the responses here nuisance calls are about two orders of magnitude more of a problem in the US than in the UK. Here, if as an individual you opt out of marketing calls you don't get any - that includes charities and political parties. They clamp down hard and fast on people who break the law (it is illegal, not just a breach of your terms and conditions). Many businesses have consent for marketing in their standard contracts, but I've only had a few such calls in my life and if you tell them to stop they have to, by law.
It's worse for businesses, AFAIK they can't opt out of marketing calls. When I worked in a telephone exchange we'd get three or four marketing calls per week. The most amusing ones were when they tried to sell you phone service or broadband. "This is a British Telecom exchange mate, we've got 20 000 lines already" shut them up pretty fast.
Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News
This kind of product has been out for years. Oh, this one probably has some option that all the others don't, but it's about as much "news" as "Dell's next laptop will come in olive green".
I have taken to simply swearing at them, telling them that what they are doing is illegal, and that they are parasitic scum. The purpose is two-fold. First, it ties up their (semi-)valuable time because I always select the option to talk with a human. Second, and more importantly, I am hoping that it wears down their spirit and makes them loathe what they are doing, if only just a little. Everybody, please do this. It will be so much more effective if this is the default response to their calls. I am referring to the auto insurance, debt consolidation, etc. scammers who ignore the do not call list and hide their identity.
While that approach definitely has merit, it takes too much time and can be too subtle.
I prefer the direct approach: an airhorn blown right into the microphone.
I have a server at home so this is a good option for me as well as for anyone else that has one. It took a few tries to find the right modem for the job that would recognize caller IDs and also respond to the phone call but in the end it was well worth it.
The software is called PhoneTray Free and the modem I use is an Agere Systems PCI-SV92PP (that may or may not be the right model...bought the modem online but it's definitely an Agere as recommended by the software developer). Hooked up the phone line to it and it screens all calls. I can set it to respond with things like "This number has been disconnected" or "We do not accept telemarketing calls" and other typical phone company messages. Before I put this in we were getting phone calls all the time from collection agencies looking for other people and wouldn't stop calling even after telling them the person did not live there. Now they just get a "This number has been disconnected" and the frequency of the calls has actually dropped!
Worth a look if you don't want to pay for such a service.
this offers nothing over GrandCentral (now a google company) - it is hardly more interesting than call filters already available for any nokia phone (most of which are free).
i call this fluffnews.
Modern phones have programmable phonebooks built in. It would be very easy to have something like this added to the phone options: if the number isn't in my phonebook, don't ring.
... firstname, Hugh?
I think I might have even seen this suggestion somewhere on /. but my new favorite is:
Listen for just a second then (as if you just determined it isn't anything important) interrupt them and ask them if they can call back later or if they would mind holding on for a minute while you finish masturbating.
I can say the only responses I've gotten from that one is either *click* or uuuuuhhhhhhh......*click* hehe
Using smartphone you can define hooks, for example only put trough call from numbers, which are on your contact list or for example block all "hidden" numbers. You can also create blacklist.
So whats the point of having "a gizmo"? For landline? Someone who really wants to speak with me will ring me on the mobile anyway.
As soon as my cell provider starts offering this service then I am be glad to pay a per month fee! It used to be that one was safe with a cell phone since it is not listed but now adays with cold calling and people using the numbers as their primary that is a thing of the past!
Uncle Mantis
I already do this with asterisk. However I've setup my system to make them suffer several menus before I tell them to foad.
This is NOT new. Anyone using Asterix has likey programmed their system to do just that. You can have it do whatever you like.
ONe trhing is that telemarketers and certainly scammers will block their caller ID. So you don't gt any number. These calls would go to an automated system that asked them questions and has them press numbers. The questions never (literally near) end... If you are a telemarketer press 3, if you are selling household goods press1, services ppress 3,,,,,, please enter you suoe size and then the pounf key,,, Please enter your social security number and the press pond,.... and then it starts over.
Most of then get the idea after the first question and hang up.
A free home oriented system is here
http://www.trixbox.org/
The full up free asterix system is here
http://www.asterisk.org/
My brother has aonther good trick. Anyone offring to sell any home product his says "yes" please come out to my place and we can talk. This works for realestate people and roffers and painters and so on. Then he gives them the address of the house across the street. This is good because if seriously wastes their time and costs them money.
What about the auto insurance scammers that hit me 10x/week?
You'd think they'd get a clue after you'd told them to FO 100 times. I found devices like this to be very effective.
Uh, this isn't new - a friend of mine in Des Moines has had one of these for at least three years. Maybe new to the Brits?
-- Ed Carp, N7EKG erc@pobox.com PGP KeyID: 0x0BD32C9B What I'm up to: http://intuitives.mine.nu
There's a pretty easy way to get this done already. You just let the answering machine get every call after 0.001 rings, and only listen to it once per day to figure out who to call back. What situation would it be where someone would need you to call back immediately and they couldn't physically knock on your door, if it was all that urgent?
stuff |
First, let me say that I'm an Asterisk consultant with experience of the SOHO and SME marketplaces (plus a few Enterprise level call centres). I have a lot of experience of what people want from their phones. I'd also add that my home number has had this feature on it for the past three years!!
I would be very surprised if they shifted a lot of these boxes in the UK. Nuisance calls aren't as much of a problem as they are in the US and I simply can't see that many people thinking it worth while spending GBP100 on a box to filter them out.
However, the box has an inbuilt answerphone and for an additional GBP25, it'll do call recording too.
Now, that's where the value is forget everything else, a call recorder for GBP125 is pretty good value. Add to that the fact that you've got an answerphone _and_ you can screen calls and that's amazing value.
So, IMHO, their marketing's all wrong. In the UK, the value is definitely in call recording.
However, your views may vary!
To get telemarketers to quit calling your number by making their computer dialing equipment think it has reached a disconnected telephone number, record the special 3-pitch cadence SIT (special information tone) sequence with your answering machine just before the beginning of your message. The tone is at telephonetribute.com/signal_and_circuit_conditions.htm
This is nothing new. ATT offered it (and may still) as a subscription service years ago. It was call Call Management. If a blocked caller-ID number tried to ring through, the caller was asked to leave their name, which was recorded. It then rang the target number, played the name, and gave you a number of options, such as to let the call through, hang up, or play a recording that tells the caller to place the number on their do-not-call list. You could also set up codes for people who are behind phone systems that automatically block caller ID, so they could get through to you.
You can do this and more with GrandCentral.
I typically let all callers get through the first time. Then, I can decide what I want to do with the caller. There is also a built in spam filter on GrandCentral.
I set it to send bill collectors for bills that I am paying a little late to voicemail. The phone never rings. I set the telemarketers to the blacklist and they hear a recording that the number is disconnected. Again, the phone never even rings.
I can only imagine the trouble this device causes. The CID is sent between the first and second ring. So, the phone must ring at least once. Either the device hides this from you, or you will hear at least one ring.
Anyways, GrandCentral is a far better option than this device. I can go a step farther and set certain numbers to only ring certain phones like my cell, or home. I can switch from my cell phone to home phone on the same call. I can even record incomming calls with GrandCentral.
However, I imagine that Asterisk is the best option. I just have yet to set up Asterisk; so, I can't really say too much about it.
There are a variety of caller ID doodads you can buy for land lines that screen your calls, so this idea isn't that new.
But what I really want is white-list/black-list capability for my pre-paid cell phone. I don't want my minutes wasted if I inadvertently answer a robo-call. (Apparently the FCC's 1088G has no teeth. Meh. But at least I tried.) So I only want the phone to ring on numbers that I flag which I saved earlier in memory. But unfortunately I live in the U.S. and not Japan or South Korea where they do have this particular service available to them. Why can't U.S. based cellular providers deliver? (And at pennies if not for free, because all it should take is a modest firmware update to the handsets.)
Here's one I've never tried but have wanted to: Have an airhorn ready by the phone. When spam marketer calls, speak in really soft voice, holding the mouthpiece quite a ways away from your mouth, and say that there's been problems with the phone, so they will need to turn up the volume on their receiver (they're probably on a headset). Then, blast the airhorn directly into the mouthpiece.
It intercepts calls from calling cards, so it kind of sucks.
I have this old Apple laptop, a 5300c if you care.
Anyhow, it runs this little box called a YOYO.
I use it to filter my incoming calls.
I run the line off the de-mark point into the YOYO and then out to the handsets.
If your on my spam list, the phone rings once to show the caller id and that's it.
Works great.
This device sounds like what we were promised (but never delivered) with Caller ID boxes in the first place. We were promised that we would have a box connected to our phone line that could work off a white list or a black list, or even a combination of the two.
This device should have the ability to treat calls with CID blocked as a blacklisted number. It should answer, then disconnect immedietly. No business or government agency should even have the option to block CID. That option should only be available to private individuals
I like what a friends dad did once...Listened through all the speal, acted interested, until discussing payment options. When asked about credit cards, he replied "do you accept food stamps?" They said "You don't have a credit card or a bank debit card?". He said "No, all I got is food stamps." They said "you couldn't pay with a money order or check?" He said "No, all I got is food stamps." They hung up on him, and to my knowlege that advertiser has never called him back!
I don't get to many Telemarketing calls since I put my number(s) on the DNC. But when I do I love to F@#$ with them. Two of my favorite are:
1) Start breathing heavily into the phone, ask the caller (male or female) what color underwear they are wearing. (Continue to breath heavily). Ask them to touch themselves. (Continue to breath heavily) If they haven't hung up by then, continue to breath heavily and make more very suggestive comments until they do. But make THEM hang up.
2) Politelty start to listen to the caller, then clamly say "Honey, put down the gun." say to the caller "Uh-huh". Then a little more alarmingly say "Hone, PLEASE put the gun down." say to the caller "Uh-huh". Then say "Honey, PLEASE hand me the gun." say to the caller "Uh-huh". Then in a very alarmed voice say "HONEY, NOOOOOO!", drop the phone handset, then immdiately hang it up. That should scare the cr@p out of a telemarketer.
The Truth is a Virus!!!
http://www.grandcentral.com/
It does all that's been mentioned in this thread and a lot more. Give it a try someday.
If a call was entered in their identified callers list, it would ring through. If not, The phone would respond: "If your call is of a sales or telemarketing nature, please hang up now, otherwise press 1# to continue". I had to do this for quite a while before I finally got my mom to enter my number into the phone.
I've built up so much character I have an alter-ego
Except text messages to my cell phone from some spammer giving me a "hot" stock tip. Heck, some of the messages I get don't even make sense. I only get about 1 a week, but it still bothers me. With T Mobile, at any rate, my only recourse is to turn off text messaging totally—they won't let me submit a "white list" of people I want to text, or anything like that.
Great men are almost always bad men--Lord Acton's Corollary
The simple captcha is just "press 1 to speak to Alice, 2 to speak to Bob, stay on to leave a message" etc. If it gets too popular and scammers start sending "1" tones, then "press 1 to hang up, 2 to speak to us, stay on to leave a message"
I'll have to try your cellphone trick - the interesting question is how widely they spread their internal DNC info (since they don't seem to care when I tell them to put me on their DNC list.) I've mostly been encouraging the auto-warranty scammers by letting them give me a price on my late-1980s Chevy Van (with randomly altered details), though at some point if I feel patient I may string them along about the 2005 Porsche (which actually belonged to my neighbor's kid, was more like a 1995, and the repo men got it when he went to jail :-)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
This is exactly the functionality I have with grand central, and have for 2 1/2 years now.
Say what you will about google, I like this one.
This is why I love Google's GrandCentral. It does this and more. I have been using them for a while and have been really happy with it. The only complaint is that they are not allowing any new users and there has been no word from GrandCentral for a while.
Back before the national Do Not Call law went through, I used to have a little device that plugged into my phone line between the phone and the line out. Apparently, it was able to tell the difference between a manually dialed call and an auto-dialer; as I recall, it did a good job of weeding out most junk calls. It was called a "Tele-Zapper". After the DNC law passed, I got rid of it, because I figured I'd never need it again. Well, I'm getting more and more junk calls again, so I think I'm going to have to get a new one. I notice Amazon sells them: http://www.amazon.com/Privacy-Technologies-TZ-900-TeleZapper-900/dp/B00006881R/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top. (This is not an endorsement, and I don't work for them...I can only say that I recall the device worked well for me.)
Great men are almost always bad men--Lord Acton's Corollary
This little old lady has been calling me repeatedly. Now I have a way to stop her!
Have gnu, will travel.
I was wondering which cell-phone this 'Gadget' was for. I would have hoped it would have been software for the Iphone or Gphone (Or any other cell-phone in which this may be possible). But no, its a physical device I guess. Saying the words 'gadget' and 'widget' on a geek web site need to be said carefully.
You can use Advanced Call Manager to do this and more. I've been using it on my E71 ever since I started getting the damn car warranty calls, and haven't had to deal with the damn calls for the past few months.
I don't expect many calls about Presidential candidates, since California looks solidly Obama, but I have been called about Prop 8, the anti-gay-marriage initiative. (Unfortunately I didn't have time to tell the callers why they should be ashamed of themselves...)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Sometimes calls don't have number info with them even if the caller isn't blocking caller id, for a variety of random reasons. You probably want a less hostile message; spammers aren't going to improve their behaviour, and there's no point in being hostile to non-spammers. If any real humans call you from blocked numbers and complain that you're not answering, you can tell them that they'll need to unblock.
But if you do get annoyance calls with numbers, then yeah, give them the no-ring treatment and maybe the line-disconnected tri-tone beep in your answering message.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
AT&T genius at work: available features include Caller ID and Privacy Manager.
Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
What about Safeway cashiers and their charity scam? Is there any gadget coming out soon that will zap 'em every time they do that?
This isn't even remotely new, I had this service on our home phone in 1996 from the phone company. Costs a couple bucks a month, did the exact same thing.
It also probably has went away since then, I know the phone company where I live now doesn't offer the service, nor does my cell phone provider allow me to block specific numbers. I'm guessing there is some reason where they get paid more by not blocking the numbers so they just don't provide the service anymore, but this is in no way something new.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
I just love false positives, don't you? I'd like to extend that to my phone calls as well as my e-mail... can you do that for me? Thanks!
There's a company called http://www.interceptorid.com/ who have had a product out doing this for a few years - and it's been mentioned on /. as well.
Blacklists, whitelists, private time, it does them all.
Blacklist or no-CallerID, where members get tri-tone-bad-number recordings... Whitelist for follow-me-to-my-cell-phone... Custom recordings for listed callers to have something to hear just for them before I even get a ring (Happy BDay Mom!!) even scheduled by date or time.
Do not leave it black and white though. Area Codes, where you receive calls from people you know, can identify most callers you do not need to know about, when they bother to send CallerID.
For the ones that get through all of this, a little custom feature with *00 codes. Audio of Rick Astley's best at the touch of a button. Choose your own style of "kiss off" message. Mine will even add the number to the blacklist as playing.
Asterisk may not be simple, but the fun was just too much to pass up!
As for the robo-calls that do not like to hang up, I have found that many of these will also not be able to hang up when you call them. I have redialed until I catch them between dials, where they pick up the line to dial another number. I then transfer to call parking and it kills their dialing for several hours sometime. Unless a person is monitoring the "NO DIAL TONE" counts on their end, it can stay for hours.
Am I the only one who's had this for a while. My phone company has been doing "call intercept" on my line for the last 8 years. Numbers I select, or ones that have valid ID information get passed to the phone. Unknown numbers are required to do the same as this gadget...identify themselves or they're not passed. If i refuse to accept the call for whatever reason, the number gets blocked and they receieve the same "this number is not accepting your call" every time they call..my phone never rings. It's worked well for the recent rash of mass internet-lines calling from invalid numbers, null numbers (which don't show up as out of area or unavailable, but as 00000 or "No Data Sent) - not only that but it got bundled with my phone service simply by asking for it. But also, wouldn't you have to install this thing at the master incoming line, for the whole house? Plugging it up to a phone would still cause the phones to ring with an inital call is made.
I remember getting one fundraising call from the "California Narcotics Officers Association" or some name like that - not only do they work for the drug war, but they were lobbying to get rid of medical marijuana, back when my father was dying of cancer (though not in California, and he didn't have chemo-related nausea until his last couple of weeks.) The call was placed by a telemarketing shop rather than the cops themselves, and I told them how sleazy the organization they were fundraising for was...
Meanwhile, in more recent news, California's cops are now being forced to tell people that just having the license plate from from their official charity isn't supposed to get you out of traffic tickets (wink wink, nudge nudge...).
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
linux+asterisk box hooked on the line?
Put them throught a hell of menus and lift alike music... Call me unsocial bastard, or call my customers anoying techno-analphabets...
Not a huge fine, just make it # cents per minute, like a 900 number. Any phone call not on the white list has to pay to contact me.
If they want to waste my time, they pay for it.
They ARE out to get you simply because They are in it for themselves and they don't care about you.
Spam me once, shame on... Shame on you. Spam me... You can't get spammed again.
We don't have anything to hide except our privacy. So yes, basically everything.
I wouldn't mind giving my ID only to my friends, however that's not one of the options I have. Only options I have are: Give out ID/Not give out ID.
They ARE out to get you simply because They are in it for themselves and they don't care about you.
Already have a program like this on my cell phone. It's called (very originally) "Call Block", at http://www.wishsolutions.com. You can whitelist and/or blacklist numbers, block calls at certain hours, let calls go to voicemail, or pickup and hangup to prevent that. Doesn't play messages to the callers though.
Doing that might actually be illegal if it causes damage to their hearing. And rightly so.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
"But there are "legal issues" that need to be resolved before this "telephonic neighbourhood watch" can be put into action, said a spokesman for the company."
Yeah, like maybe admitting that your new "invention" that "basically intercepts all calls" has already been invented by someone else here in the states. Someone called Verizon. They've been offering their "Call Intercept" calling feature for quite a few years now:
CALL INTERCEPT
Screen calls - even from anonymous callers.
Call Intercept screens unidentified calls and lets you handle them however you like. Fewer unwanted calls means more peace and quiet for you at home.
How Call Intercept Works
* This automated service works with Caller ID service.
* Unidentified callers that typically show up as "Anonymous," "Out of Area," "Private" or "Unavailable" on your Caller ID display are prompted to record their identity before your phone rings.*
* Once the caller records his or her identity, the service alerts you with a unique ring and displays "Call Intercept" on your Caller ID unit.
* When you pick up the phone, Call Intercept plays the recording and then gives you several options for handling the call.
Additional Benefits
* Unidentified callers who don't record their name hear a pre-recorded message stating that you do not accept unidentified calls, and then are disconnected.
* Use of a four-digit Personal Identification Number (PIN) that you choose allows friends and family to bypass the screening process. When Call Intercept is bypassed using the PIN, you hear a unique ring and "Priority Call" appears on the Caller ID display.
* If no one answers, Call Intercept will allow the caller to leave a message on your answering machine or Home Voice Mail service.
* You have the ability to change your four-digit Personal Identification Number (PIN) and to turn Call Intercept on and off. Simply dial 1 800 527 7070 and follow the voice prompts.
Source:
http://tinyurl.com/5qprsu (web page)
or:
http://tinyurl.com/5qprsu (PDF)
"Fish" (David B. Trout)
(Grumbling) Damned monkeys...
=)P
http://www.calleridboost.com/p2p.htm
used one for years now. or at least I gave up a landline for cell only.
If I could walk that way I wouldnt need cologne.
"Blocked" calls should instead be switched to a service which uses voice generation software and genetic algorithms to continually refine itself with the goal of making each incoming call last as long as possible before the caller hangs up. Tarpitting, basically.
As a bonus, use the centralised service to generate something like a Breidbart Index, so that a number which is multiply reported as the source of unwanted calls gets indexed into a global block list which every participating device can download.
Any number which annoys more than a handful of subscribers, then, for any reason at all, would suddenly find a percentage of its attempted cold calls being tarpitted - perhaps to the point where it significantly affects their outgoing call capacity.
As ever, non-CID numbers would get an answerphone. Globally blocked numbers would stay on the list for a week or so by default - long enough to inconvenience cold-callers, but no so long as to permanently inconvenience someone who was given a reassigned number.
the greatest prank call ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5z4Vs26-TI
this is one idea in the "National Security drop number" act you where talking about
i really like the answer and then lay down the phone tactic