instead of increasing taxes on middle class the govt could tax every phone call just 1 cent and eradicate this problem while pulling in revenue.
The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
221–230 of 432 posts
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
So it’s possible to show a local number when the call is arriving from another part of the world? That seems strange or rather insane, but would explain how the problem happens ;)
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.
Phone numbers can be spoofed, anyway. If you call back a robocall spam number, you'll reach a very confused human. And I've received a bunch of robocalls from my own number.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#223Even the assessed fines are manifestly too small.
The WSJ article cites estimate of up to 48 billion robocalls made in 2018. $208 million is $0.005 per call.
Fines need to be several times higher. And collected.
As many others in this thread have said: make this the telcos' problem. They'll solve it.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#224Twilio, when do they become accountable for enabling robocallers.
I've been a Twilio customer for a long time. They don't allow you to spoof caller ID. You can only set outgoing caller ID to a real number that you own or have access to.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#225While robocalls are annoying, what's the moral justification for making this illegal? If a person is allowed to call you, why can't a computer? Also the line is getting blurred recently, so it seems like a problematic distinction at this point in time.
>what's the moral justification for making this illegal?
The robocalls I receive are all using fake caller IDs. At that point, it's fraud, isn't it?
I wouldn't mind robocallers if they used a real caller ID. If that were the case, I could just block them and be done with it.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#226The solution is simple, and I've proposed it before. If someone used spoofing to break the law, there's strict liability for some kind of statutory damages, say $100, applicable to everyone across the chain. I.e. I can sue Verizon for sending the call to my phone, Verizon can sue whoever connected to their network, they can sue whoever spoofed on their network, etc. This will quickly lead to networks requiring proof…
So if I buy a $20 prepaid cell phone for cash and use it to robocall ten of my friends, they'd share $1000?
A network shouldn't allow a $20 prepaid cell phone to spoof numbers. Give it one number, if it starts spamming it can easily be blocked.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#227I 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…
> because there's no good reason that these robocalls can't be treated like a DoS attack
The problem here is that the origin can be spoofed.
You are imagining a system where a telco like T-Mobile connects the caller directly to you. That's not how it works. The connection chain could look like this.
bad caller 111-1111 -> A -> B -> C -> T-Mobile -> you 999-9999
All T-Mobile knows is that 111-1111 is calling 999-9999 and that the call was routed from C, it does not know about A, B, or the true identity of the bad caller.
That's also why spoofed attacks are also a problem on the Internet. These systems were not made with spoofing in mind, and it will cost a lot of money to get these companies to switch over to a new system seamlessly that can detect spoofing.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#228I 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…
What's wrong with relying on your terminal device to decide whether to ring the call? That's the definition of a smartphone. In fact, Android has native spam blocking:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brookecrothers/2018/12/30/in-20...
but it's quite reasonable for you to install whatever filtering app you choose.
If you don't feel safe installing software on your phone, that's a problem with your phone OS.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#229I enabled the Silence Unknown Callers feature [0] in iOS and haven’t answered a spam call since. The downside is that it sends every call from unknown numbers to voicemail, including legitimate ones. It’s a worthwhile trade-off. [0] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207099
I tried it, and within a week I missed an important call. I was waiting by the phone, and it just never arrived. I realized too late that it had been silenced. It's very frustrating that we can't just get something like a spam filter, rather than a blanket "silence everything unknown."
I updated to the beta specifically for this feature. But, like anything else like this, was worried missing important calls. I get a notification immediately about a missed call (which I'll probably soon try and turn off), I'm a lot more aggressive about adding businesses to my address book (someone else said they whitelist phone numbers you've made calls to even if they're not in your address book), and I kind of expect important calls to leave a voicemail.
Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790
#230I 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…
> because there's no good reason that these robocalls can't be treated like a DoS attack The problem here is that the origin can be spoofed. You are imagining a system where a telco like T-Mobile connects the caller directly to you. That's not how it works. The connection chain could look like this. bad caller 111-1111 -> A -> B -> C -> T-Mobile -> you 999-9999 All T-Mobile knows is that 111-1111 is calling 999-9999…
How much is "a lot", though? We already have $billions sloshing around in telecom.