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Let’s Destroy Robocalls

nytimes.com

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Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#231

Post by blaze33 »

Got some felling these robocalls mostly are a USA thing. From France where I happen to currently live, unsolicited cold-calls unrelated to my whereabouts are really rare. I've no idea if there's some law leading to such differences.

I've only once in my life been harassed by some polling company that really wanted me to answer lots of questions. Eventually felt strong enough to go through the process, last question was "would you be open to participate in future polls we may have?" → HELL NO! and never heard from them again :)

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#232

Post by Scoundreller »

wlesieutre wrote: post #12
gonehome wrote: post #3

What confuses me about this is that Apple could solve this in two seconds by allowing contact whitelists where only incoming calls in your contacts are accepted and everything else is sent to voicemail or dropped. Is there a law against this or something? Nomorobo, Robokiller, Hiya all do an okay job as blacklisting applications but that seems like the wrong way to go about it. Some suggest using do not disturb to do…

Voicemails are still annoying, I have a red alert badge on the home screen and have to go in, check that it's not real, and delete it. Would love to be able to junk filter incoming voicemail based on the transcript. Anything with "card services calling about your credit card account" or "qualify for a medical grade back or knee brace" goes straight to trash. Of course that only works for a few months until scammers a…

I’ve set up a DID that is just a voicemail box on VoIP.ms.

All unanswered calls get forwarded to it.

I get an email mp3 of voicemails.

They don’t get deleted. And I can still access my voicemail easily if i’m Overseas or need to reference them in the future.

Costs about $1/month.

And for people I really don’t like... I just hand out that straight to voicemail number.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#233

Post by AJ007 »

devcpp wrote: post #149
zackmorris wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since caller id was implemented so poorly: https://www.onsip.com/blog/how-caller-id-works-why-it-might-... Maybe it would be nice if we had something kind of like a CAPTCHA, where an app on your phone would say "please dial and say your name to complete your call" and the person would have to dial it and say who they are to talk to you. Totally knee-jerk idea I realize, but I literally get 10 SCAM LIKELY calls for ev…

It's insanely easy for a program to recognize individual digits and then type them out. Saying a name would also be trivial (recorded, generated, etc). Audio captchas have existed for a while, they have been an alternative for a long time, and they are even more annoying than images. What we need is an abuse prevention system involving authentication. You can get reported for robo calls, and if enough different accou…

I think you are right about this. The previous response said they received 10 spam calls for every 1 real one. I'm probably about the same. My email spam isn't even close to that. 50 to 1, inbox, maybe?

This situation is far more dire for the telco's and their debt holders than they are catching on to. The telephone number, portable or not, is what anchors their customers. When it is gone, you've got a commodity.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#234

Post by flerchin »

biztos wrote: post #218
cletus wrote: post #62

So robocalls are the result of: - Cost of phone calls decreasing to basically zero - Cost of automation going to basically zero - Phone calls that can come from the Internet so there are no national boundaries anymore - Caller ID operating on essentially the honor system - Bad actors (telephone companies) benefitting from this traffic by charging for it - Larger players having no incentive to punish bad actors There'…

That sounds plausible, but then why are robocalls not a problem in Europe? I have two EU numbers and have never gotten a robocall on either of them. I have never heard of anyone getting a robocall in Europe, and while that might just be anecdata I think I would have heard something after two decades, especially in privacy-minded Germany. When I get off the plane in San Francisco and activate my American SIM card, I u…

Language barrier.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#235

Post by Scoundreller »

fjord_ wrote: post #224
gesman wrote: post #40

Make it mandatory $10000/call fine + prison sentence and teach users how to get a money trail. Then the hunt will get efficiently crowdsourced. After few well publicized cases the problem will greatly diminish.

How are you going to fine a warehouse full of 500 people in India?

The same way the US is getting Canada to extradite that Huawei executive.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#236

Post by Scoundreller »

Shivetya wrote: post #44
gonehome wrote: post #3

What confuses me about this is that Apple could solve this in two seconds by allowing contact whitelists where only incoming calls in your contacts are accepted and everything else is sent to voicemail or dropped. Is there a law against this or something? Nomorobo, Robokiller, Hiya all do an okay job as blacklisting applications but that seems like the wrong way to go about it. Some suggest using do not disturb to do…

We found out that a business we asked to call us shows up with no caller id, it was because of Google services. Plus in many cellular networks its not common for the caller id information to be passed. While I would like more tools on phones by various providers this problem as a whole needs to be solved by those routing the calls. How that works I don't know, I always thought ANI was the end all solution but IP call…

A major Canadian wireless provider used to have a screwed up ANI system where it just reported the area code and exchange code followed by 9999.

Enough information for them to bill my provider, but not enough to let me know who’s calling.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#237

Post by Animats »

We need attribution on caller ID info as a first step. Caller ID should read

"212-555-1212 per T-Mobile, CenturyLink, Adino". Like mail headers. T-Mobile says the call came in from CenturyLink. CenturyLink says it came in from Adino. The telco knows most of this now, they just don't pass it forward. Someone upstream may be lying, but you can usually tell. If the number is US local but the path goes through Mumbai, something is wrong.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#238

Post by craftyguy »

jerf wrote: post #120
sacul wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(This turned into a bit of a rant...) So, AFAICT, Hustle provides a service that's nearly as bad as robocalls. From their front page: "Hustle works because people read and respond to texts—and to communication that feels more human." So it's a bait and switch, just like a robocall: you contact me in a way that makes you feel personal, approachable and reasonable to me so that you can gain my attention. Look, try to s…

I am currently being hammered by robocalls, in relative terms at least. I can't remember the last time I got an unsolicited text. An anecdote to be sure, but I don't hear anyone complaining right now about unsolicited texts, so it doesn't seem like Hustle is the problem. "I still want to have access whenever I want it. Maybe I can't have it both ways?" You can, actually, and it isn't that hard. I have a strict "one s…

> I can't remember the last time I got an unsolicited text.

There's some bullshit law that allows political parties to harvest voter telephone numbers in my state, so I get pummeled by unsolicited text messages from political campaigns.

For the ones that actually have a human on the other end monitoring it, replying with 'I cannot vote, I'm a felon' (regardless of what the actual law is for voting and felons in my state) is a good way to get them to leave you alone.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#239

Post by craftyguy »

guitarbill wrote: post #17
gonehome wrote: post #3

What confuses me about this is that Apple could solve this in two seconds by allowing contact whitelists where only incoming calls in your contacts are accepted and everything else is sent to voicemail or dropped. Is there a law against this or something? Nomorobo, Robokiller, Hiya all do an okay job as blacklisting applications but that seems like the wrong way to go about it. Some suggest using do not disturb to do…

You'd still miss out, like with the surgeon's example of a patient calling. It doesn't need a technological solution at all. In the UK and Germany, there were some calls, but it was rare, not even once a month. Do-not-call lists are enforced, and e.g. the ICO can fine directors of companies, not just the companies. Reporting nuisance calls can be done on a website, immediately. Then again, in the US, everything requi…

> You'd still miss out, like with the surgeon's example of a patient calling.

No you wouldn't. It would go to voicemail where they could leave a voicemail. Then you return the call if you want.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#240

Post by Scoundreller »

silvestrov wrote: post #221
biztos wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds plausible, but then why are robocalls not a problem in Europe? I have two EU numbers and have never gotten a robocall on either of them. I have never heard of anyone getting a robocall in Europe, and while that might just be anecdata I think I would have heard something after two decades, especially in privacy-minded Germany. When I get off the plane in San Francisco and activate my American SIM card, I u…

Denmark: almost all (cold) sales calls are forbidden by law. Exceptions are sales of books, newspapers, insurance, and research (e.g. Gallup). There is also a "do not call" list that blocks all such calls. In Danish: https://www.forbrugerombudsmanden.dk/hvad-gaelder/markedsfoe...

The exclusions sound... arbitrary?

I get the research exemption, and i’m Happy about a politics exemption, but why books, newspapers and insurance?

Why not bicycles or theatre or education?

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