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The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

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Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#131

Post by beerandt »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #94
ravenstine wrote: post #42

I see people here saying that spoofed numbers is the problem. Maybe it's a big part of it, but at the end of the day, the phone companies are complicit with the criminals because there's no good reason that these robocalls can't be treated like a DoS attack. These crooks make millions , of calls every year. My first employer was apparently making robocalls, though none of us were aware of it(there was a call center w…

I don't know how Google Voice did it, but I rarely if ever got a robocall when I had Google Voice. After leaving Sprint (and losing Google Voice after years of having it) I get them all the time. T-Mobile catches a few here and there, but I get so many damn spam calls. I just have my phone on mute.

That's changed- I get calls all the time on my GV number. I think the initial "success" might have been due to the number blocks being previously flagged as unused. Especially when the minimum block size was still 10,000.

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#132

Post by ricebowlz420 »

"Many of the spoofers and robocallers the agency tries to punish are individuals and small operations, he added, which means they are at times unable to pay the full penalties." - cant pay the fine? Go to jail, you are breaking the law.

Yet another example of the incompetence of the FCC and Pai

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#134

Post by icegreentea2 »

Semaphor wrote: post #120
JaRail wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They'll buy tons of phone numbers from all over so they always have local numbers to call from. They just use VOIP software to route it to wherever the call center is located. As far as their provider is concerned, they're probably just a local business. Or, at most, a local number for a foreign company.

As I said in another comment, why allow international numbers to spoof national numbers?

In the parent's description, it's not spoofing at all. They've purchased real american (local) phone numbers, and are routing calls through them through other means (like internet...). There's no telephone network level trickery or spoofing going on.

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#136

Post by nobodyandproud »

bksenior wrote: post #128
nobodyandproud wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. It’s amusing to see people think there is some hard technical problem here. Tie the problem of robocalls to the telcos losing money, and this problem will solve itself in months.

It would literally be a day. They pass the legislation and they would stop.

The lack of political will and the form of legislation are the questions.

If the rule is that telcos must eat the cost of a scam, they will drag it out in court and the consumer must still prove it.

If the rule is that each robocall that makes it through must be paid by the telcos (take the consumer out of this), then telcos will battle each other to try and insist that the other party is responsible.

At some point they may even come to a consensus and protocol that protects the customer.

I prefer this option.

There may be other options. Just don’t put the burden on the individual customer.

Edit: Even better, allow bounties so that lawyers can start hunting for robocalls that went through.

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#137

Post by drtillberg »

My VOIP vendor provides a spam-scoring system for inbound calls from an outfit called TreCNAM. Needs more participation to be highly effective, but it's an idea!

The VOIP vendor also enables call treatments that can require a caller to press a specific number after the call is connected, before it actually rings, and to whitelist specific legitimate callers. Together, those phone screening tool reduced rings from robocallers on my VOIP phone to a very rare event.

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#138

Post by xorcist »

Rapzid wrote: post #122
beerandt wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The phone company has a source number for calls coming from outside their system for billing purposes. I want that number. Edit: At a minimum, an out of system call should display what system / exchange it originates from. That at least helps solve neighbor spoofing.

Yeah it's bonkers they allow this still. No good actor ISP is going to knowingly let improperly sourced traffic transit networks...

Oh how I wish that was actually true.

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#139

Post by nordsieck »

pm7 wrote: post #104
sdenton4 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatsapp comes to mind... [edit: said three people simultaneously.]

Let's give Facebook full control over worlds communication? And allow them to cut people off from communicating with anyone? I don't think it's great idea. We really need federated communicator.

> We really need federated communicator.

Federation has enormous downsides: since anyone can join the network and send messages, there aren't good ways to police bad actors.

The two largest federated communications networks today are email and PSTN. They're both infested with spammers.

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#140

Post by pessimizer »

h5erahear5 wrote: post #73
__s wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

rectang isn't talking about the presidential election

The claim "one dollar is one vote" is directly refuted by tyre's data. It is absolutely relevant to the assertion made. But keep on downvoting HNers, ignorance is bliss is why we come to this website after all

One dollar being one vote is a cliché that refers to the wealthy having the most say in governance, not that US elections are literally the process of counting the individual candidates donations and declaring the candidate that got the most the winner. Also, stop playing the victim.
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