Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Let’s Destroy Robocalls

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 286 posts

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#241

Post by Scoundreller »

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…

France gets them a lot. Often it’s “DHL” calling and you have to pay some fee to release a package.

Likely because cheap francophone labour is available in similar time zones.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#242

Post by craftyguy »

justinmchase wrote: post #210

One time I got phone-DDoS'd by a robocaller who was using my number to call everyone else in my area code. Then for several hours, people were calling me back nonstop and saying "Calling you back...". Incredibly annoying. When I complained to my phone provider they basically said there is no way to stop it since the callback numbers are spoofed and they apparently have no logs at all. Its _unreal_.

This actually happened a few months ago with my work phone number, which I had forwarded to my cell. Within tens of minutes, my cell voicemail box was completely full. Luckily I just had to stop forwarding calls to my cell and disconnect my work phone (which I never really used anymore).

Before I figured out it was my work number that had been 'stolen', I was talking to my cell carrier (tmobile) who basically said the only 'solution' was to get a different phone number. This would be an excellent way to DoS a competitor, for example..

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#243

Post by craftyguy »

SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #160
rrggrr wrote: post #113

Regardless of one may feel about Trump is there a reason @gailcollins must invoke his name in the title of a totally unrelated OpEd? For some people identity politics is a fever.

Before 2016, the behavior commonly seen would have been unthinkable. People that hated Obama, didn't start articles about robocolls with the same derangement.... Now... I'm not even slightly surprised. TDS seems to be real.

TDS?

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#244

Post by jimbobimbo »

atombender wrote: post #158
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'…

Whitelisting is problematic because there are so many cases where it's impractical or impossible to add a contact first: Doctor's office calling to confirm your appointment; restaurant confirming a seat reservation; delivery guy is outside and can't find your doorbell; Lyft/Uber/whatever is nearby and is looking for you; pharmacy calling to inform about a prescription being ready; some store calling to inform that yo…

If caller doesn't leave voice mail, then it's not important. All entities that value your business perfectly understand this. Worst case - complain to their management and this will get sorted out very quickly.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#245

Post by shakenAndStir »

kabdib wrote: post #191
guelo wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's bullshit. Telcos can stop it on a dime but they don't because they profit from it. We just need regulation with teeth. Your attitude that only "innovation" can save us and we should get rid of regulators is what led us to where we are now.

Verizon has my cell phone in some kind of trial for a new service that's supposed to filter out robocalls. They'll want to charge me for it soon, I'm sure. I'm betting that as soon as the trial is up (one that I never asked for, btw) that the number of bogus calls will skyrocket, and I'll be forced to whitelist. My response will be letters to the FCC [nothing will happen] and the FTC [nothing will happen]. Companies…

Sounds like you've been opted-in to a trial of SHAKEN/STIR[0], which is a new government mandated technology that phone companies have to install to block robocalls this year. I believe it will be free to all because it will be required by the gov.

[0]https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/02/ajit-pai-orders-...

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#247

Post by greenleafjacob »

aarongray wrote: post #26

Lots of feel good ideas in the post, but no actual good ideas. Back when Congress created the Do Not Call Registry, and then forced law abiding companies to pay $10,000 for it, they pretty much just compiled an amazing list of active phone numbers that non-law abiding companies could acquire for a pretty good price and then sell them in batches to smaller companies that couldn't afford the full thing. Once virtual ph…

I'm currently working on a tool that would force callers to answer a small math problem (similar to a CAPTCHA) before the service would forward the call to you. Effectively robot call screening. https://callshield.io/

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#248

Post by colejohnson66 »

Evidlo wrote: post #133
escherplex wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A smart phone app which behaves as a firewall requiring callers to enter, say, a three character PIN code before phone rings may be useful. Incorporate two message files, one for leaving messages from those who know the PIN code and one those who don't, would allow for any contingencies. A front end answering machine box for the home with the same functionalities may be useful as well.

What if the caller was required to know the first character of the recipients last name and enter that on the keypad?

From my experience with robocallers: they already know your name

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#249

Post by SlowRobotAhead »

Scoundreller wrote: post #230
SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, any time I see an 808, I know it's almost certainly spam as only one real person I know has that area code. BUT.... I've had the opposite effect where they spoof to where I physically was regardless of my phone number. I recently contacted a phishing prevention company for a quote. They knew where I was physically located, and called me using a spam number of my local-actual code. I told them flat out that was a…

There’s a recent Reply All podcast on that topic. The “feature” started innocuously enough.

Haven't heard that podcast. Is it good?

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#250

Post by spc476 »

nonbel wrote: post #176
bloopernova wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay t-mobile $4/month for their advanced spam-call blocking feature, and it works very well. I now get maybe 1 spam call every 2 weeks, compared against my worthless work number that has no such blocking which gets maybe 6 spam calls a day.

How does it identify spoofed numbers?

The company I work for has a similar feature. We have a tap on the actual phone network (for some carriers) and can track in real time. If we notice that (407)-555-1212 has placed 100 outbound calls in the past 10 seconds, that's probably a robo call. If it's from a phone number that isn't provisioned (or not in use---there are databases for such information) then it's spoofed. Or it could be a valid phone number whose home switch [1] is in Kentucky making dozens of outbound calls per second from the Barbados, it's probably spoofed as well.

[1] At least in North America, each phone number is assigned a "home switch," which will always be notified where (as in "which phone switch it servicing it" not "at 40°58′35″N 80°8′9″W") it is so calls can be forwarded to the proper switch (think roaming).

Post reply on HN