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Phone Companies Get New Tools To Block Spam Calls (cnbc.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Phone companies will have greater authority to block questionable calls from reaching customers as regulators adopted new rules to combat automated messages known as robocalls. Rules adopted Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission represent the latest tools against "robocalls," which pester consumers, sometimes multiple times each day, and often push scams. Phone companies can already block some calls that trick consumers by showing up on Caller ID with fake numbers. The new rules make clear that they can block additional calls that are likely scams, such as numbers that start with a 911 area code, or one that isn't currently assigned to anyone.
is when the calling number is mine.
If you can't contact me via Facetime or email, fuck you.
So, I wonder if the telecoms will sell this as an extra "feature" to their customers, while simultaneously selling a "whitelist" feature to the callers?
I love being able to troll these guys. I always ask to speak to a live person and then have as much fun trolling them as possible. For those who say "they are only doing their jobs" the same can be said about organized crime, military officers for repressive governments etc...They called me to waste my time and I will have as much fun as possible with it.
My household makes use of a VOIP system as well as cell phones for telephony. We can pay extra for the VOIP system to block calls from numbers we identify as SCAM and ROBO calls, but that can be pretty useless since the SCAMers have hacked the caller ID system to switch ID at will. The same can occur for mobile callers. Unless technology can identify the bad guys directly and block them at their source, the problem will still exist.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
http://www.jollyrogertelco.com/
Some of the recordings are hilarious when the telemarketers start losing their shit.
Are political calls still exempt from the rules?
My favorite is the one offering between $5000 and $7000 for any women willing to make damaging accusations about Roy Moore
I hate all robocalls, including political ones, and don't see why they should be exempt from the rules.
Also: Don't we hate the FCC because of the net neutrality thing? Has that changed?
A 'robocall' sounds like there is a machine on the other end? What do the robots say?
I can't remember getting a prank phone call for decades now.
A change without a difference. They're doing things like banning caller ID phone numbers with area code 911. Big woof.
Still have a landline and am tempted to get a call blocker. There is one that is whitelist and blacklist capable.
Whitelist- goes right through
Blacklist - hangs up
In between gets a message to hit 0 and leave a message. Don't hit it and you get hung up on
Robocalls can't hit 0 so they get hung up on.
I'm using Google Project Fi for my carrier, and they're identifying about 80-90% of robocalls correctly as SPAM. The phone still rings, but the phone's screen turns red and says "Suspected SPAM caller". They also give you an easy way to report calls as SPAM from within the phone app.
The real question is, when will the phone companies let me block them?
My problems began about a year ago when I started getting a bunch of wrong number calls from people asking (in Spanish) for Manuel. My guess is someone didn't memorize their new phone number correctly and was giving out my number instead. I managed to get most of those sorted out eventually. Although one little old lady (I picked out "abuela" in what she was saying) kept hanging up and calling again, thinking she was continuously dialing the number wrong.
But then the robocalls began. Most of them in Spanish, but a few English. Mind you, I've had this number for almost 20 years with only a handful of spam calls each year. But my guess is the person also used my number when signing up for things, because I started getting 5-10 robocalls a day. The phone company was absolutely useless at helping me block them. The only way I survived was because Google's phone app tells you if a number is a suspected spam caller, and I just let it go to voicemail (they always leave a 5 second empty voicemail).
Does anyone know of an app which generates the "number has been disconnected" tones in response to an incoming phone call? I'm reluctant to change my voicemail to that because I do occasionally get real voicemails.
Cmon, wtf was that article? It was like 2 lines of journalism written on a piece of toilet paper.
I'd like to see a good explanation of why the FCC and phone companies have not been more proactive in requiring some kind of hard-registration of entities to be able to produce their own caller ID, and nip this problem in the bud. Or some more effective way for consumers to report and identify these serial spammers.
The amount of experimentation by the bad guys is way outpacing the response. The innovation they are showing is obvious -- I get calls from the same xxx-yyy-1234 prefix as mine, different variations, even my own number calling me, twice!
Agencies typically move way too slow for something like this. They are outmanned and outgunned.
This article does not clarify if it can handle the big problems of a computer sourced call. A computer call can generate about 20 numbers. You are limited to blocking 10... PHONES have to catch up with larger spam.
It would be nice if I could use a *XX feature to get the real originating number of the last call. Then at least I would have something useful to add to the near valueless FCC Do Not Call complaint report. The actual origination number should be known to the telco.
But what if my car's extended warranty really is expiring?
Just imagine being the lucky fella to bag the LAST elephant! Hard to top a trophy like that! /s
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
1. Nobody gets through, unless they're in one of my address books.
2. If I want you to contact me, I add you by adding your contact details to my phone. I tell you that you can contacte only with the numbers/addresses you give me.
3. If I run a business, the first contact goes through a form, which can put you in an address book. (Kept confidential, of course.)
4. I have a communication firewall on my home server, that only lets through calls, e-mails, IM messages etc, if they are in the right adress books. (One book is reserved for people whose contact details I want to keep, but who are still blocked. And one book is for everyone who can get through even if I block everything, as I do, e.g. at night.)
5. I do not even have a mail box. Since I do not accept signatures as valid authentication, all mere information transfers must go over digital channels. And all physical goods, like packets, must be handed to me directly, or they are considered stolen. By you, I presume. No exceptions.
Love letters and similar things where the medium matters, count as physical goods though.
IMHO this should become the new standard.
Got fed up with robocalls, and since you can't block them due to spoofed caller ID, I set all my contacts to an audible ringtone and made my default ringtone a single "ding".
Now, unknown callers ring with a single "ding" and people on my contacts list ring with a normal ringtone.
Not perfect, but workable. It would be welcome, though, to see some action on the part of the telcos or the FCC/FTC in regards to the blatant ignoring of the DoNotCall list...
I literally had a spoofed number come in that had an exchange of "555." Something tells me that there's no legitimate reason to allow such numbers through. I'm not a movie.
Robo-calls could be solved using 80s technology but never has been because not only is there no incentive to do it but they are paid to allow it to happen. How hard is it to create a network that actually verifies if the sender is giving the correct number? Forget global issues, the problem still exists inside the USA which is the most litigious nation! A simple contract between networks could ensure that allowed fraud would result in financial damages.
Think about this: we don't have this problem with computers, so why do we have it with telephones?
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
>Phone companies can already block some calls that trick consumers by showing up on Caller ID with fake numbers.
If they can, why don't they?
The current trick seems to be to make a fake ID with my local area code. It obviously fake, the phone company knows it's fake because the area code doesn't match the source and TFS tells me they can block them. So why don't they? I get them every day.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
I also Google all numbers not in my list. Never answer robocalls. That encourages them.
It's good to see the U.S. government acting as it should. About 15 years late, but better than never.
The article linked in the Slashdot summary has little information.
The FCC meets today to discuss the new rules: FCC Commission Meets Tomorrow; Will Address Robocall Blocking (Nov. 15, yesterday)
I found a PDF of the FCC's ideas about helping prevent robocalls at the November 2017 Open Commission Meeting -- Blocking Unlawful Robocalls (PDF).
The summary? Nothing has been done yet.
Have your system reject the call, unless it is in your contacts list / address book.
The first amendment does not require me to listen to all political speech, as courts have ruled. In fact, courts have ruled we have the right not to have someone else's opinion forced on us.
The exemption of robocalls for politcal reasons is allowing political types to impose their views on others - which violates the first amendment.
I am in Germany and got myself a US phone number from Callcentric. I have tested it, and it definitely works, but I get zero spam calls. Is that a POTS landline problem only or do you also get spam calls on VoIP?
When I initially read that, I immediately thought of Ajit Pai for some reason.
Is there a consumer-level PBX system or cheap service that can be used for mobile phones?
"Press 5 if you're a human".
(caller presses 1)
"Press or say my PIN/codeword to speak directly to me or wait to leave a message".
(after caller says it correctly, then my phone will ring).
I'd consider using that if it's cheap. It's irritating to be using my smartphone and have an unknown call come in, interrupting whatever I'm trying to do, or have it BLAST the ringing through my car speakers (connected via bluetooth), waiting for me to take some action.
Then afterwards block the number.
If it is local and not tagged "scam likely" I wait til I hear their voice to be sure then I set it down.
I really need a way to send all "scam likely" calls straight to bounce land. Or better an automated service that says "hello" to consume their time.
I finally had to turn my phone off when I go to sleep at night because scam calls were costing me sleep.
We need to get better end to end security on phones entering the united states. A call coming from outside of the country clearly can't be originating from a u.s. area code. and then you could set your phone to not accept international calls.
But I'm really headed towards a whitelisted phone. only numbers I approve will ring me.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
if (CallerID != ANI) drop call;
The people pulling or profiting from the "You owe the IRS money", "Your computer has a virus", and other assorted scams, all of them, need to go to jail, full stop. If the calls are originating in another country, then the US govt. needs to cooperate with the police in that country to make arrests happen. The US and India cooperated last year in shutting down one such scam center, so it's possible to do this.
If companies are attempting to sell legitimate goods and services but are violating the Do Not Call list, then those companies need to be fined heavily We're talking millions of dollars in civil penalties and disgorgement of profits. We need to send the message that you do not do this, ever, or there will be consequences.
... I've begun just blocking calls from anything not explicitly saved in my address book. Same-exchange CID spoofing has gotten out of hand.
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
Google solved my email SPAM problem years ago and now I never get unwanted emails. No regulations were involved, which is why it worked so well.
For phone calls, we get the Do Not Call Registry which was an utter failure and cost who knows how much money, and now we get more regulations that might help out. But as of today I get 100 times more spam phone calls than spam email.
Thanks FCC.