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FTC Announces $50k In Prizes For Robocaller Trap Software
crazyhorse44 that the Federal Trade Commission announced this week that it is launching two new robocall contests challenging the public to develop a crowd-source honeypot and better analyze data from an existing honeypot. A honeypot is an information system that may be used by government, private and academic partners to lure and analyze robocalls. The challenges are part of the FTC's long-term multi-pronged effort to combat illegal robocallers and contestants of one of the challenges will compete for $25,000 in a top prize. As part of Robocalls: Humanity Strikes Back, the FTC is asking contestants to create a technical solution for consumers that will identify unwanted robocalls received on landlines or mobile phones, and block and forward those calls to a honeypot. A qualifying phase [launched Wednesday] and runs through June 15, 2015 at 10:00 p.m. ET; and a second and final phase concludes at DEF CON 23 on Aug. 9, 2015.
The FTC's best solution is to investigate these robocalls with their own system of honeypots. order a product from the caller, set up a sting, and sentence a CEO and a few managers to some hard time in prison. but thats punishing success and in americas land of the fee and home of the paid, we're all about the invisible hand of the market.
Good people go to bed earlier.
First off, fix Caller ID so people can't spoof their phone numbers. Even if people use the private number feature, the phone company knows who made the call. Secondly, monitor exchanges for both high outgoing volume and high incoming volume (and especially sequential dialing) to find potential robocallers and telemarketers. Problem solved.
Buck Feta. You know what to do.
My solution is also me. I answer all robocalls (even the pre-recorded ones) with "Hello. This call is being recorded". I've quickly gone from around 3 or 4 a day to almost zero. Guess they're scared of the fines, and it looks like they share information on who's after them.