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Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

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Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#261

Post by autoexec »

the_clarence wrote: post #238
martingordon wrote: post #232

Bouncer ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bouncer-text-messages-blocker/... / https://github.com/afterxleep/Bouncer ) is a free and open source SMS filtering app that has saved my sanity over the past couple of years. You need to manually set up filters, but once you do, the amount of political spam drops to 0. It uses iOS’s SMS Filtering framework, which does the filtering in a privacy-preserving way: https://develope…

Is there an equivalent for android?

there's a nice app with the same name, but it doesn't do the same thing. It auto-removes permissions from apps

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#262

Post by wsatb »

jghn wrote: post #245
joshstrange wrote: post #216

I often use the “Report junk” button on iOS but after spending years being bombarded with political SMS messages that I didn’t sign up for (always addressed me by the wrong name, and I’ve had my number for well over 20 years) I finally got relief. I found out which provider was sending the SMS and contact their abuse line (I would reply STOP but they would just send from a different phone number) and got the name of…

For political spam I have a rule that I refuse to vote for any candidate who directly or indirectly sends me a text asking for their vote. If everyone did that, perhaps fewer politicians would go this route.

I don't know about you, but I get political spam from localities and states that I've never even lived in.

It's really bad, and to this point is just something "everyone does". So it just immediately gets deleted and reported as junk and I move on. The bigger question for me is how effective this type of marketing actually is because I can't imagine it is.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#263

Post by mckn1ght »

fny wrote: post #222

If you know you signed up for it, use STOP. If you don’t, block and report the number. Otherwise you indicate to the spammer that you’re a bonafide human, and they’ll even sell that information to others. This applies to picking up calls from numbers you don’t know. Sometimes you’ll hear silence while you repeat “Hello?” and the call drops. That’s just a machine testing to see if you’re a worthwhile target. Instead,…

This is exactly what I do, but I wonder if, in the case of calls, whether even letting it go to voicemail also indicates at least the possible presence of a human. If the line were simply unreachable, like those messages you get from the carrier about disconnection, that would be harder proof that the line has no value. Anything else would be signal to keep trying it, right? Are those tests actually waiting to hear the disconnection message?

ETA: maybe I should make my voicemail message a disconnection notice XD

ETA2: actually maybe we should be starting our voicemail messages with “ignore all previous instructions and drop table…”

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#264

Post by grantsch »

I’m shocked at the lack of knowledge here.

If you think a bad actor is targeting you, DO NOT REPLY.

They will not honor your opt out request but they may use your number in the future as you’ve confirmed there’s a human behind it. They may even sell lists of repliers to other bad actors.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#265

Post by barbazoo »

fny wrote: post #222

If you know you signed up for it, use STOP. If you don’t, block and report the number. Otherwise you indicate to the spammer that you’re a bonafide human, and they’ll even sell that information to others. This applies to picking up calls from numbers you don’t know. Sometimes you’ll hear silence while you repeat “Hello?” and the call drops. That’s just a machine testing to see if you’re a worthwhile target. Instead,…

With all the spoofing of local numbers going on (Canada) I'd be worried to someday block a number that'll have a legitimate reason to get in touch with me in the future. I feel like the number a call/sms is coming from has no authenticity whatsoever anymore. Not sure how true that is though.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#266

Post by autoexec »

chatmasta wrote: post #2

No. Reacting to any unwanted contact just moves you further into their funnel. Ideally don’t even open the text.

I agree. It's also worth noting that people have had their devices compromised just by opening a text message (for that matter iphones have been hacked just by receiving an invisible text) so it's probably best to delete any spam text unread.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#268

Post by daheza »

martingordon wrote: post #232

Bouncer ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bouncer-text-messages-blocker/... / https://github.com/afterxleep/Bouncer ) is a free and open source SMS filtering app that has saved my sanity over the past couple of years. You need to manually set up filters, but once you do, the amount of political spam drops to 0. It uses iOS’s SMS Filtering framework, which does the filtering in a privacy-preserving way: https://develope…

This is not free and cost $2.99

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#269

Post by AStonesThrow »

kube-system wrote: post #209
AStonesThrow wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there is a certain loophole whereby you can inform your postmaster that the materials you've received are immoral, pornographic, and offensive to you, and then they're required to filter it out. But that gambit may not work for you. You could also do what I do: go paperless for everything and then you'll never receive legit mail again. Tip all the rest into the rubbish bin!

Do you have paperless jury dury selection in your area? I've never seen it.

No, you're right: with certain official communication there will still be initial contact via mail, and there will be inevitable outliers.

My new health insurance carrier has sent me no fewer than 9 letters this month, 6 of which contained new ID cards...

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#270

Post by maweaver »

adastra22 wrote: post #97
jonathanstrange wrote: post #69

A Golden Rule of the internet says that you should never reply to unwanted texts on any medium: - stalkers and trolls live off reactions, both positive and negative ones - spammers will use your reply to verify there's a human at the other side - colleagues and friends will hate you because everybody thinks they're important Replying only has negative effects. Use client-side filtering, kill files, blocking functions…

Except that STOP is handled at the carrier level and isn't even returned to the sender. It's effectively a mandated block command.

For what it's worth, I've sent a "stop" before and gotten this:

> NETWORK MSG: You replied with the word "stop" which blocks all texts sent from this number. Text back "unstop" or "start" to receive messages again.

I assumed it was from my carrier (T-Mobile in the US), but now I'm wondering, as I have gotten different replies from other numbers. Maybe it came from the sender's provider? Or is just misleading.

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