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Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?

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Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?

#281

Post by mark-r »

balabaster wrote: post #252
mark-r wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. With phone number spoofing, all the scammer needs is the phone number of someone on your list. With social media how long do you think it would take to generate such a list, and to get propagated to every scammer?

This would need to be spoofed for every individual though. I imagine this would be cost prohibitive enough that it would at least in the short term kill most spam phone calls.

On the contrary, it represents a revenue opportunity for the first person who can generate a list of matching pairs of phone number and friend phone number. I wouldn't expect the list to be prohibitively expensive because it will be resold thousands of time.

Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?

#282

Post by muttled »

Blinks- wrote: post #264
StavrosK wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the kind of solution that only works because basically nobody is doing it. If a big provider deployed it, it would take five seconds for it to be defeated.

While I agree, if you randomize the number that needs to be pressed to get by the prompt it could become a serious roadblock for most autodialer systems.

Go the ReCaptcha route and have them listen to 9 sounds and tell you which one of them are store fronts.

Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?

#284

Post by citizens »

astrostl wrote: post #283

How many spam calls are folks averaging per day? I probably get one (1) every 3-6 months, and I answer calls from unknown numbers without hesitation. I've also been using the same mobile number for more than two decades.

About two per day.

Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?

#285

Post by otterpro »

Does anyone know if we can get 900 number on our cell phone, which would charge the caller for each call? On landline, we were able to call a psychic on a 1-900 numbers (and 0900 in Europe) for a fee. If I charged $1.99 for each call, I wouldn't mind answering even those spam calls.

Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?

#286

Post by umvi »

wittedhaddock wrote: post #272
umvi wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should read the book "Ghost in the Wires" by Kevin Mitnick. It will really open your eyes as to what is possible with phones.

can I borrow your copy? I will pay shipping to and fro' :)

Sure! But honestly, it will probably be cheaper for you to just buy it from Amazon for $8. Or, read it for free using Overdrive (if you have a Kindle/ereader).

Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?

#287

Post by brerlapn »

paulie_a wrote: post #233
joshka wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/callkit/cxcalldire... Single number at a time though. Useless for spammers that use random spoofed numbers. Not sure what sort of performance problems you'd hit by adding 10M numbers per area code. It's probably a hashset underneath, so maybe none...?

I was so annoyed by spam calls that I called my carrier and asked if I could block Texas and Florida. Apparently you cannot.

The Hiya app lets you block calls that start with a particular string. It looks like the app allows for blocking just an area code. The only downside is that numbers being blocked by Hiya will sometimes start to ring for like a quarter of a second before the blocking takes effect - still better than having them ring through. I have the area code and exchange for both of the numbers that ring to my phone automatically blocked in Hiya (so, first six numbers) and it makes a big difference. My LG G7 has a call blocking feature, as well, but trying to block only the initial string of numbers for the area code and exchange didn't work. I'd recommend Hiya.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.webascende...

Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?

#288

Post by joshka »

smt88 wrote: post #143
joshka wrote: post #127

I'm more inclined to say that the real solution to this is to make it expensive for the callers by having a service that answers the call every time and tries to keep the caller on the line wasting their time. There's obviously an asymmetric principal at play here. Imagine for a sec a situation where: 1. I receive a robocaller message. 2. I press a button on phone indicating spam 3. Software Agent takes over, presses…

This exists (kind of). https://jollyrogertelephone.com

I used that for a little bit. It was fun, but a bit clunky to get going (dial another number, join the calls).

Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?

#289

Post by samstave »

wittedhaddock wrote: post #238
samstave wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi James, Interesting service - how did it get started? I see that you're all over the site, assuming youre "Strategy Team James"... Are you the founder of this service? Who backs the network you talk to? Would you have a data-only-text-only SIM plan? (i.e. could I have a ~$3/month SIM that ONLY allowed Text? or a $5/month plan that ONLY allowed text+SOME data? I'd like to put sims in some IoT devices - and want to f…

Hi Sam, I started a previous company (caffei.net) and during this time of selling network software that improves end user privacy, battery life, network performance, and total data used to the folks building all the apps all the people use for 2 years, I grew disgusted with how little regard they have for all of the many prepaid people in the world... for whom a sloppily set up RPC connection for some trash 30 second…

Man, I wish I had heard of hologram earlier - thanks for that.

Ill send you an email though - love the mission you describe for what youre doing.

Re: Ask HN: Why can’t I block all incoming calls that aren’t in my contact list?

#290

Post by joshka »

askmike wrote: post #130
joshka wrote: post #127

I'm more inclined to say that the real solution to this is to make it expensive for the callers by having a service that answers the call every time and tries to keep the caller on the line wasting their time. There's obviously an asymmetric principal at play here. Imagine for a sec a situation where: 1. I receive a robocaller message. 2. I press a button on phone indicating spam 3. Software Agent takes over, presses…

Are you sure this is a problem you want to (try to) solve technically? - You'll make it very hard for genuine people to contact you. - You don't solve the problem, you only make it more expensive. As long as the benefit of calling you is bigger than the cost they will jump through whatever hoop to call you. For some context: this isn't a problem everywhere in the world. In my country there are strict laws about unsol…

Not really personally. The telcos have an interest in making this not a thing, and I have strong hopes that any solution based on this concept would be put out of business by fixing it at that level.

There are laws in the US about this too, with some pretty heavy penalties that are possible to collect in Civil court. The problem is finding the perpetrator, as the phone system makes it difficult to get accurate info on who actually called. I suppose someone could start a class action against the telcos, or an aggressive AG could start a RICO case.

BTW, AT&T, if you don't fix this soon I'm moving to T-Mobile.

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