Let’s Destroy Robocalls • Hacker News Board

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#281

Post by nathan_long » Tue, Mar 05, 2019, 9:06 PM UTC

ilikehurdles wrote: post #251

nathan_long wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The nightmare case for whitelisting is an emergency call from or on behalf of your spouse or child using a stranger's phone. This is why I don't want a whitelist. What I want is for spammers specifically to be identifiable and blockable, or for their business to be made prohibitively expensive. I didn't get spam calls on my cell phone 15 years ago, and as you say, what has changed is largely economics. Why can't we w…

I treat my phone as if it’s on a whitelist anyway. I can’t imagine how people do otherwise. If it’s an unknown number, I reject it. If they leave a voicemail, I’ll get notified and I’ll check it pretty soon after the call. Every day I get no less than two unwanted calls from scams and robocallers. I don’t have time for that.

I do that, too. But I didn't always have to, and I shouldn't have to, that's my point.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#282

Post by cweiss » Tue, Mar 05, 2019, 9:59 PM UTC

epriest wrote: post #14

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…

Here's how to actually "solve" this problem on an iPhone: - Pay $1.99 to buy a silent ringtone from the ringtone store. - Make that your default ringtone. - Give everyone who you want to be able to call you an audible ringtone.

Unfortunately, I don't _think_ this propagates to other Apple devices that are set to alert you to incoming calls. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this).

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#283

Post by tomhoward » Tue, Mar 05, 2019, 10:12 PM UTC

jlkid225 wrote: post #101

Why are so many NYtimes posted on this site?

Likely because it's among the most prominent news outlets in the world, and it covers many of the topics that are of interest to HN readers.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#284

Post by inetknght » Tue, Mar 05, 2019, 11:31 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #167

inetknght wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...until and unless the phone number is spoofed. Then the blacklist is getting onto the whitelist.

Technically you're right, but what are the chances that a bad actor is going to spoof one of the phone numbers in your contact list. I mean, the odds of them hitting that are so close to zero I don't even want to think about it.

Years ago, spam emails were sent to random email addresses found on the internet.

Now spam emails are sent to live email addresses harvested from peoples' activities

Today caller ID is spoofed not even with random phone numbers but specifically phone numbers with area codes relevant to you. For me, it's phone numbers of my area code which I have zero contacts in. Or it's phone numbers from my phone's registered address in Houston.

What makes you think it won't be long before fraudsters are able to connect the phone number they're calling with people likely in your contact list by ... looking up leaked contact lists?

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#285

Post by linsomniac » Wed, Mar 06, 2019, 12:17 AM UTC

It feels like phone companies have basically destroyed their business model by turning a blind eye to robocalls and telemarketers. The other day I was filling out a form and it had like 3 different phone number fields, and I was thinking "we're shockingly close to those getting filled with N/A" as I was putting the same number in them. And I'm not even particularly young.

Re: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

#286

Post by calvertdw » Sat, Mar 09, 2019, 6:16 PM UTC

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'…

> - Cost of phone calls decreasing to basically zero

> - Bad actors (telephone companies) benefitting from this traffic by charging for it

I don't think these are compatible.