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A New Senate Bill Would Hit Robocallers With Up To a $10,000 Fine For Every Call (gizmodo.com)
Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey and South Dakota Republican Senator John Thune have introduced a bill on Friday that aims to ramp up the penalties on illegal robocalls and stop scammers from sending them. Gizmodo reports: The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, raises the penalty for robocalls from $1,500 per call to up to $10,000 per call, and allows the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take action on illegal robocalls up to three years after the calls are placed, instead of a year. The Act also aims to push the FCC to work along with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and other agencies to provide information to Congress about advancements in hindering robocall and prosecuting scammers. Perhaps most importantly for us highly annoyed Americans, the bill would also force phone service providers to use call authentication that filters out illegitimate calls before they go through to consumers.
... wake me up when they charge the telcos for every robocall they don't filter. That will make a change.
I cancelled my land line and block and ignore callers not in my contact list.
T-mobile also tracks and blocks reported spammers, which does seem to have helped.
However, if cell phone spam continues or worsens, then I'll just revert to voip services, email, and a UPS or FedEx envelope.
To hell with them all, spammers and politicians alike. In fact, during elections they are pretty much one in the same.
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." - H. G. Wells
I personally get at least two calls a day on my land line from these assholes as it is, and I was getting almost five a day during this past election season. If it wasn't for the fact I can't get any cellular service where I live I would shut the line off entirely. In terms of the former it's somewhat interesting that I hear the exact same voice even though they seem to be from entirely different companies trying to get something out of me.
And on the point of my later statement, one thing that really should be done is a change in the law to block political robocalls. Those are currently except from the FCC regulations of those. There's just no way to keep those mother fuckers from calling you if you're on a land line.
I forward all calls to Google voice. Works very well. Pity they'll inevitably fuck it up because, you know, that's what Google does.
But for now it filters Red Cross spam very well, and the transcription let's me see those that slip through at a glance.
If FBI sets up honey pots, take the bait, follow up, go up the chain and fine the people who hire these robo callers, then it might have some effect. Otherwise you can even call for death penalty, it wont have any effect.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
This is going to change things if it happens here's why:
Bounty hunters. If it's really 10K$ per call, I can offer to split my share with a bounty hunter who will track down the Mofo and collect.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Robocalls work because they do thousands of them. If you caught one of the guys $1500 per call is already going to be millions, if not billions and maybe trillions.
Also, we know damn well how to stop Robocalls, you stop them at the source by making AT&T et al police their bloody network. They don't do this because they're making money off the robocalls.
So once again, I smell bullshit. More political theater to distract me and you from real issues like healthcare, wages and those 8 bloomin' wars we're fighting....
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Shouldn't the end-user get a percentage of that fine? That would make me want to almost sign up, just until I could validate the caller. Then whack, I get $5k. That would be awesome.
Fines are way too high. Enforce the laws we have now. Raising the fines will do jack shit to improve the situation.
There is good psychological evidence that higher penalties do not deter more than smaller ones, and there will be no way to collect the fines anyway when they are in the stratosphere.
Only use of this law will be racketeering and harassment of companies who have made a mistake such as misdialed a number.
>"Broadens the authority of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call"
*CIVIL* penalty. So nothing will change. It needs to be a CRIMINAL penalty with a way to tip off for enforcement. NOBODY is going to do the work needed to try and find out who it is so they can spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to "sue" them.
>"Extends the window for the FCC to catch and take civil enforcement action against"
So the FCC will take civil action? Doesn't do much of squat right now on that front. Every few years we hear of maybe one high-profile case. And how has that worked out? They could increase suing by 100 times and it wouldn't make a dent.
>"Brings together the Department of Justice..."
Yawn
>"Requires providers of voice services to adopt call authentication technologies, enabling a telephone carrier to verify that incoming calls are legitimate before they reach consumersâ(TM) phones."
THAT has some glimmer of hope. Not much though, since it only helps with spoofing and tracking by the end user. Doesn't actually stop the calls.
>"Directs the FCC to initiate a rulemaking..."
Yawn again.
Color me pessimistic but still hopeful...
to the telco. Financial incentive to the telco would fix it. As it is, the telco profits from the extra biz.
The US is the -only- country in the world where CID/ANI spoofing is trivial. You can't fake robocalls anywhere else. Fix this, and robocalls will be fixed.
So, the act wants to engage the FCC (currently run by a former lobbiest) with the CPB, also compromised and basically useless, to combat something that makes someone money.
Uh...huh.
And y'all buy that this is useful? Lol
Your mind is like a parachute. It works best when it's been opened.
This is an agency with broad authority, but no accountability to or oversite by elected officials.
https://www.washingtonpost.com...
It got so absurd that the former head of the CFPB felt he had the authority to name his own replacement. And their budget comes from the fed and not Congress.
The public switched telephone network isn't any more point-to-point than the internet is. In fact, you know why Ethernet cables have telephone style connectors? Any guess what the "switched network" means in "public switched telephone network?". Think that's anything like the network switch you use for internet? It's precisely the same network, that's why it uses the same connectors and equipment. Some newer companies focus on IP traffic, but all the original backbone ISPs were the traditional phone companies.
A T1 line is a 1.54 Mbps like which typically carries 24 voice channels. It can also carry 1.54 Mbps of data, or a combination of the two. It was originally used just for voice.
Your telephone call / internet traffic does have a point-to-point link from your computer to your switch (which is typically in the same housing as your router). Even inside your home, though, i's a network, many things connect to each other the same switch. Nothing point to point about the phone *network*.
My upstream telephone provider has absolutely no way to know if I've set the caller ID correctly when I forward a call, no more than the next company whom they pass the call to knows.
I hope this will help them fine the crap out of them and slow them down or put them out of business. I get 10 fake/scam calls a day!
First of all youâ(TM)re an asshole second of all youâ(TM)re an asshole
If any way existed of finding robocallers, there would already be apps that could nail them. Some robocalls on business VoIP can be filtered (nomorobo.com) but this scheme does not work for most consumer lines.
Does this bill totally outlaw spoofing of Caller ID by locking in the ID when a line is provisioned?
Easy solution... don't answer the phone, have a clear list of phone numbers you do let pass, and then only answer when you're expecting a call from that number. Otherwise, they can text, email, video chat... whatever on a more secure platform before allowing them to "ring" your phone.
Aside from the stupidity of national laws telling multi-national businesses what to do, it has weasel words: Who decides when a robo-call is legitimate? Once again, it will be anyone the politicians like, for their own convenience or profit.
I get a junk robocall almost every day and most who I know get more. 100 million a day in America is probably a conservative estimate. That would make $1500 a call a $150 billion per day fine rate if the fines were effective. Clearly they are not being utilized.
Make it so caller id can not be spoofed. Not sure if that is possible. At least make it a major crime to spoof caller id. I'll allow id blocking since there are times when that is necessary (anonymous tips, etc.). Make the telcos responsible for enforcing it (as much as is feasible).
-- Will program for bandwidth
This bill allows the FCC, to use resources from the FTC which can levee greater fines and has authority over the stocks and the exchanges on which they are traded, as well as the ability to call on DHS and DOJ which have personnel to kick in doors and investigators to follow up get warrants and seize equipment. In addition to extending the time in which infractions can be enforced as well as a much higher ceiling on the fines they can levee.
Of course it still has to pass through Congress and as you say be enforced but at least the tools are being provided if the proper authorities have the backbone to use them.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
A single robo call should get them a mandatory spot on a reality TV show for on-air castration or fucking by razor dildo (depending on sex of the individual) so the punishment matches the crime. Spammers too.
Just use standard methods.
All we really need to do is ban caller ID spoofing.
Just force the carriers to manage themselves. They can block call spoofing and move all burner numbers to a unique area code
If you have sms access, why wouldn't I just call you ? Why the app to make a call ?
Reverse charging is probably the ONLY thing that will prevent this. Want to call me? You need a validated credit card that deposits a tenth of a penny into my account. If this service was available, I would sign up for it in an instant. Robocalls would drop to very nearly zero and they would stay there.
Porkbarrel spending gets added to every bit of legislation. The 2020 election campaign is already shaping up to be very expensive, following on the heels of the most expensive midterm campaigns ever. You can bet this bill will get saddled with plenty of pork to appease those who fund the superPACs that are going to make or break 2020 candidates.
Most of the robocalls I get tend to be from senators and congress persons begging me to vote a certain way in each election. This doesn't add up. Maybe there is a provision in this bill to exempt political robocalls?
Anyone? That's a pretty large sample size.
By the way, you're a fucking idiot. You think businesses and banks and industry are texting each other?
What the fuck is it with you millennials? You really do think that the world is a mirror of your habits, don't you?
If you don't have the skills to make a coherent phone call good luck getting a job.. It's permanent basement dwelling for you.
"By the way, you're a fucking idiot. You think businesses and banks and industry are texting each other?"
Yes. Yes they are. 90% of my business revolves around some form of text messaging or voice over internet service, be it emails, wechat, Facebook, Skype, facetime, etc. My Bank even Skypes me and text messages me. And I'm in the manufacturing business. Fun fact, rest of the world is using these services on a daily basis for business. Being in denial of this is quite the delusion.
There's a good reason why Microsoft is restructuring their whole business services with outlook and Skype. Maybe you might not use these services for your business and industry, but a whole lot of people do.
My view of the US phone system is based on the 1960s Batman where his hotline couldn't be traced, and all crime movies where it took exactly 60 seconds of talking for a number to be traced...
Near the election, I got so many text message spams from political parties.
I have a feeling such a bill would not address political party/election robocalls and robotexts, because a fair number of laws don't apply to politicians because the political class is "too good" to abide by the rules they make for others.
After all all they do is deliver pre-recorded messages and they do it automatically, sometimes unasked.
"Oh well our company declared bankruptcy and was renamed as some new different company so they're gone now and so nobody owes you anything anymore"
"I'm halfway across the world come get me bro lol"
"This new law is inapplicable to our political campaign robocalls as we are providing an 'informational' government service, and well we're just not going to charge ourselves"
Unless the law involves the highest ones responsible for any robocalling dismantled and their organs sold along with the bodies of their families - no exceptions - it does fuck-all.
Just like the do not all list. The people abusing it never gave a shit about it in the first place or we wouldn't need it. Pass all the laws you want won't make people adhere to them. The law either never finds the people doing it, or they don't have the money to pay the fines anyway. Monetary penalties don't scare anyone but people who actually could pay them.
Calls from political campaigns, automated or from the boiler rooms, should also be banned. If you're going to exempt political campaigns, don't even bother.
With cold callers it's more likely the IRS ... sorry I mean the Federal Grants Department ... no wait, Indian call centers.
Typical government, Try to fix a technical issue with laws. Make the telco validate the call. Dont allow a fake number to pass through. That will solve many of the issues. Put the fine on the telco not some theif that doesnt care about a fine since they are in some 3rd world country on a hacked PBX.
Will the bill include spam?
Political robocalls are, by far, the largest number/percentage of harassment that we receive. On the days leading up to elections there were dozens of calls per night "from" dozens of states.
The do not call list has not been 100% effective. But, it has resulted in a massive reduction in overall robocalls. However, this reduction is being watered down by the absolute abuse that is political robocalling.
I wonder how willing the Senate will be to curtail the actions of their own members? Yea, I thought you deserved a laugh.
While I'm 100% in favor of eliminating robocalls and call spam, your post disturbs me deeply.
Your post illustrates an huge lack of understanding in how the modern telephone system works. Clearly you do not understand, and perhaps are unwilling to understand, that preventing robocalls in the way that you describe would significantly obstruct or even break the national and global phone system.
But, all of this is forgivable. Lots of people don't understand or care about technical details. They just want what they want and that's understandable. At least to an extent where their uninformed opinions do not overshadow those that actually know how the system works and make the system possible for everyone else.
The truly disturbing aspect is that uninformed opinions, such as your own, are drowning out the voices of those that do know and do understand and do realize the vast extent of the damage that would be caused by your "simple solution" to a mere annoyance. The tide is rising and the phone system as a whole faces radical alteration and damage due to pure ignorance and self interest.
But, the trend toward action based on ignorance is increasing and a mob mentality seems to be forming. In my opinion, there is a disaster ahead on this course. Naturally though, you won't care until it affects your personal interest. Until someone else's ignorance causes silverguns(OP's username) to be broken by legislation based on ignorance and "simple solutions" you'll continue demanding "solutions" that cause more harm than good.
No no no.. The AC said "Does anyone use the phone anymore?"
Everyone is running around with a phone.. All physical businesses have landlines.. 100% of them where I'm at.. 100%. Not 99%. I specify physical businesses.. The kind you walk into.. Bank, restaurant, car dealership, auto-mechanic, etc... (as opposed to people who own a business with no physical location for customer interaction)..
I'm not going to accuse you of lying, but I think you're mistaken if you really think 90% of your businesses is somehow avoiding the phone network. Your end might be voip, but I'd honestly be surprised if the other half of your phone conversations are avoiding the POTS at 90%..
I built cell sites for a decade, and every single one had a T-1 line as a backup for emergencies.. That's POTS.. That's 1964 technology.. Because it's reliable. This isn't old stats either.. I left the cell industry just a couple years ago.
I don't dispute that your preferred methods are gaining ground and will only increase as time goes on, but RIGHT NOW.. no.. HALF of Americans still have a landline.. That's 150,000,000 people right there.. Just one country.. Phones aren't going away any time soon.
This is going to change things if it happens here's why:
Bounty hunters. If it's really 10K$ per call, I can offer to split my share with a bounty hunter who will track down the Mofo and collect.
LOL. Who said it'll be YOUR 10K$? Like every fine it'll be gobbled up by the government. And with government's famous "efficiency", even if they set up an agency dedicated to prosecuting robocallers and allow it to keep all the fines they levy, it'll still need financing from the budget.
Great, you are due compensation and never see a check because the caller is either
1) out of jurisdiction
2) now bankrupt
3) still unidentifiable compliments of the phone system
4) my favorite is all 3
But at least the Congress gets to feel better because the did something.
The first step is to hold your phone company responsible if they continue to deliver calls in this manner.
Until they want for it to stop, it won't.
Currently, delivering these calls is a revenue source.
Filth! Bow to APK! His work brings peace and prosperity to all who use it. What have you done but serve as a gadfly struggling feebly in his ointment?
Submit to APK, and you may yet be forgiven of your crimes against humanity. Only then will you be made whole.
And yes someone is impersonating him, namely the guy who keeps trying to say that APK has calf implants . . .
It's a fine, not a bounty. If you got even $10 for reporting robocalls that would do the job. But this is not an attempt to fix the robocall problem, this is a money grab combined with selective enforcement. The government will pocket the fines and I double guarantee you that not one cent of it will be used for robocall reduction.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
So they were already finind robocallers $1500/call and they kept offending? Must be a lucrative business.
I have a physical address. I have a very large warehouse. The phone maybe gets 10% use at most by my CSRs. Everything is online. The vast majority of my suppliers use Skype. All my customers are either email (Most of the time don't even hear their voice) or some other form of voice over the internet. Everything international is almost majority done on WeChat or Skype. And I agree with you, probably that landline I have isn't going away soon, but I'm at the point I can't justify paying $1000 a month for 10% business, when there are offers that give you an 800 number that dials straight to you in whatever format you want. And yes, I have a T-1 line as a backup phone and internet, why the high price (TPx aka Telepacific, I can't wait to get rid of them). So definitely in the future that POTS is going away soon, perhaps really soon for me.
Also realize that 150,000,000 million people with a landline is a rapidly diminishing number, most of them probably just bundled with an internet deal while the phone never gets used.
Robocallers have already relocated their call centers offshore, where US law doesn't reach. Good luck with collecting those fines!
Robocallers have already moved their call centers to Canada, Mexico, or anywhere else, where US law doesn't reach. Good luck collecting those fines!
If they're placing millions of calls at risk of $1500 fine and getting away with it, what difference will a $10k fine make?
Zach Paterson/ZIP + c6gunner 'Greatest Hits': "I'm a much better programmer than APK" - by Anonymous Coward ZIP on Monday October 08, 2018 @11:27PM (#57449082)
BIG TALK - ZIP has no programs to show as proof.
I do https://news.slashdot.org/comm...
(From registered /.ers liking/using/praising my work + 100k users worldwide)
ZIP tried to take credit for what I solved before him https://tech.slashdot.org/comm...
He codes? He can't EVEN READ!
I show 2 ways to do it YOURSELF https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... - he can't.
Delphi/FreePascal/ObjectPascal HAS no null-term'd string bufferoverflows https://developers.slashdot.or... - C does, C++ can UNLESS you do what I said 1st.
He likes CODE SIGNING (it's been STOLEN & ABUSED) https://www.helpnetsecurity.co...
MY METHOD CAN'T BE (upmodded +2 INTERESTING in CODING FOR DEFCON) https://it.slashdot.org/commen...
ZIP says he has no /. acct "I don't have an account so I don't have mod points" https://news.slashdot.org/comm...
Yet ZIP says he downmods me (IMPOSSIBLE w/ no /. acct.): "I down-modded a few of your post" - by Anonymous Coward "ZIP" on Thursday October 11, 2018 @11:31AM (#57461058)
APK
P.S.=> KEEP IMPERSONATING ME like https://science.slashdot.org/c... (I'd never say that OR bitch to do-NOTHING "ne'er-do-wells" like ZIP OR c6gunner https://linux.slashdot.org/com... (he 1st mocked me & impersonated me TWISTING /.ers words & after I FAIRLY challenged him to show HE DID BETTER & that was his response (weak))!
Above EXPOSES your BLOWHARD incompetence... apk
last week my wife got a call ""This is the (sic) Microsoft, we see your computer has a virus and if we don't correct it we will have to shut you off the web." (with strong near-eastern accent) She handed it off to me. I asked if that could cause my computer to run slow - it sometimes takes 10-15 min to start up - can you fix that?" "Oh, yes, yes, certainly." (You could hear his almost organistic excitement) I was told to turn on the computer. "Ok it's starting up - this will take a while." I walked away, then three min later "Are you still there? I have to get this fixed, it's now starting." " Oh yes, yes." Repeat at after another 5 min and after another 15 min with same response. Finally after 45 min he dropped the connection and I blocked the number.
I got a call about prescription insurance. "Does it cover Dr. Johnson's molasses salve? Uncle Tim had a terrible time with his knee and ..." Going into a long spiel about Uncle Tim and aunt Betty. It seems that Tim had gone out to the chicken coop with the molasses salve and it was an awful mess, but it did fix his knee, while Betty tended to ramble on and on about nothing just wasting your time, "I just hate people like that don't you?" After 5 min she hung up - I didn't get to tell her about nephew Jim's awful hemorrhoids that hung down and bled...
Seriously: when you are bored and have nothing else to do, waste their time (even if you have to "press 1" on a robo.)
Spam and robo spam only "hit" on 0.1 % of calls, so if we can direct 1% of the calls into a 5 min dev/nul, we have nuked the bastards from orbit.
without enforcement.
And yes, I have a T-1 line as a backup phone and internet, why the high price (TPx aka Telepacific, I can't wait to get rid of them).
Part of the reason for the high price of a T-1 line is that it is a federally regulated service. By law the telco has 4 hours to diagnose the problem on the T-1 line (once you report it to them) and then develop a plan to fix it.
I was, in addition to a cellular tech, a T-1 technician (MST) with AT&T. T-1's took priority over EVERYTHING. The FCC fines for failure to correct certain problems within certain time frames were horrendous. But, that's why they cost so much. I don't recall if it was mandated or simply a perk, but the rule of thumb for both AT&T and Telepacific (I had a T-1 from them for 3 years) was to pick up the phone on a trouble call before the 4th ring. No voicemail... A human operator had to be on the phone before the 4th ring began. I can say this, I never ever heard a 4th ring.. Not once.. I don't think I even heard a 3rd ring.
That level of service extends to the biz class fiber circuits. I currently have a gig line (simplex as opposed to main and protect) from AT&T and have never heard a 3rd ring either.. Expensive ($1700/month), but where I'm at, there aren't any other choices..
Heads, piles, walls.
pussies...
Yet you want the government to step in and play mommy and daddy for everybody. Can you not see your twisted logic in this? This is why you're a moron.
Yet you want the government to step in and play mommy and daddy for everybody.
As long as it's filled with republicans and corporate whores (but I repeat myself) it won't do that. But it's still the entity which should.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
...as the majority of these calls I get originate from off-shore locations
Extradition is a thing. If they wont extradite, put pressure on them by banning travel to-and-fro, and commit crimes against them in far stronger and greater numbers until they relent and pay a very hefty fine.
"TRACED" Act? Really?
Hey, the republicans do not have a monopoly on corporate whores. Who extended copyright 20 years for a "donation" from corporation? (Hint: Bill Clinton signed it into law).