FCC Calls On Phone Companies To Offer Free Robocall Blocking (fastcompany.com)

The FCC chairman on Friday pressed major U.S. phone companies to take immediate steps to develop technology that blocks unwanted automated calls available to consumers at no charge. Chairman Tom Wheeler, in letters to CEOs of Verizon Communications, AT&T, Sprint, US Cellular, Level 3 Communications, Frontier Communications, Bandwidth.com, and T-Mobile, said that so-called robocalls, automated pre-recorded telephone calls often from telemarketers or scam artists continue because the industry isn't taking any action. Wheeler demands answers with "concrete, actionable solutions to address these issues" within 30 days. A report on FastCompany adds: Wheeler also urged carriers to create a list of institutions like government agencies and banks that are commonly impersonated by scammers and filter out overseas callers impersonating them through falsified caller ID data

Comments

I'm sure they will fully comply

[Anonymous Coward]

They will offer free robocall blocking and the sudden and completely unrelated rate hike will be completely unrelated.

Re:I'm sure they will fully comply

[jonsmirl]

Nomorobo actually works pretty well and it is already free on land lines. It has totally stopped Cardholder Services from call me. That spammer was driving me crazy having called me over 300 times. After about a hundred calls I started answering some of them and telling the operators what a disgusting company they work working for. Or I'd hit '1' and set the phone next to my radio. I heard that other people give them made up credit card info just to make them waste time. Even after paying a $1M FCC fine Cardholder Services is still calling my land line. https://www.nomorobo.com/

Of now they have started calling my cell phone four or five times a week. And there is no free blocking.

Apparently Nomorobo works by using the billing information in the call to block the call. The billing information can't be spoofed like the caller ID can be. End phones can't access the billing info so the call have to be blocked inside the network.

Re:I'm sure they will fully comply

[ShaunC]

I can confirm this.

About 10 years ago when I switched phone carriers (didn't port my number, not sure if that was even a thing yet), I got assigned a phone number that had previously belonged to someone who may have had debt. I was getting calls morning noon and night from a collection agency named Luebke Baker, looking for the guy who had the number before me. No amount of "you've got the wrong fucking number" made any difference, they kept on calling, always spoofing different numbers from different area codes, sometimes a dozen calls a day.

I got fed up and went through the FCC complaint process. I don't know how it works now, but at the time, they had a web form that required an intense level of detail and took a long time to fill out. I submitted it. About a month later, I got an envelope in the mail from the FCC. It contained a printed copy of my complaint form, about 15 sheets of paper worth, with a letter saying they found no violation of anything and I was welcome to submit another complaint if I wanted.

Thanks and no thanks, I had Sprint change my phone number. Luebke Baker eventually got fined by the FTC instead of the FCC, I guess I should have sent my complaint there instead.

REAL caller ID

[Mister Transistor]

Just a non-fucking-spoofable caller ID would go a long way to fixing this, the assholes couldn't hide behind spoofed numbers and would be thus made easily reportable to authorities.

As soon as I heard that caller ID was FUCKING USER MODIFIABLE, I realized it was an absolutely worthless "feature".

While you're at it...

[SvnLyrBrto]

Put some teeth into the do-not-call list:

Upgrade callerID to use ANI or some other tech to prevent it from being spoofed or blocked; so we can find the bastards. Remove the exemption for charity and political fundraisers and pollsters. Remove the "existing relationship" loophole so that when you add your number the calls STOP unless you explicitly exempt them (And that exemption should be revocable.). Remove the 31-day wait when a number is added (Seriously, WTF? I'm not buying a gun here. I don't need a cooling-off period.) And crank up the penalties for violations such that it will hurt even a SuperPAC... maybe add in some criminal penalties too.