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

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

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

411–420 of 432 posts

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

#411

Post by madiathomas »

coldpie wrote: post #360
_akei wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my country, landlines starts with certain code. So I simply ignore and block any number that starts with those code. I hate robocalls. I wish there was a way to reject all calls coming from numbers who aren't on my contact list.

> I wish there was a way to reject all calls coming from numbers who aren't on my contact list. What kind of phone do you have? There are definitely Android apps that do this. This is the one I happen to use, there are many others: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.grus.callb...

I am using an iPhone. I wouldn't mind switching back to Android just for this feature.

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

#412

Post by gwd »

ikeboy wrote: post #114

The 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…

> The solution is simple, and I've proposed it before.

Actually, I think the solution is even simpler, and is already in place here in Europe: Make all calls cost a minimum of $0.25 to the caller.

The issue right now is that having a robot call a million phone lines costs basically peanuts. If a million phone calls cost $250,000 instead, then this sort of spam calling wouldn't be effective anymore.

And you don't have to wonder what it looks like. In Europe and the UK, the caller has always paid for the entire connection, including the airtime of mobile phones. It doesn't cost you a dime to receive calls on your mobile phone in the UK; but it costs the caller around 20p per minute. As a result, robocalling mobile phones is not cost effective.

No need for complicated regulatory intervention in this case.

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

#413

Post by dredmorbius »

madiathomas wrote: post #410
dredmorbius wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blocking all unknown numbers is fairly standard. Defining a silent ringtone by default, and a non-silent one for your contacts, is another. Better management tools on phones themselves would be a bonus.

My phone is always on silent. Unless I am expecting a very important call. I prefer not to be notified. I am even tempted to invest some time and write an app that does exactly what I want -> Reject all calls from unknown numbers.

I've opted out of PSTN entirely, for the past few years.

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

#414

Post by viraptor »

nulbyte wrote: post #381
viraptor wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Define "illegal call" and how you'd classify that before the call happens. You'll see why it's not done.

Yoy don't need to classify it before it happens. You classify it after it happens.

The context was:

> fine the telecoms for allowing the illegal calls

You can certainly fine companies for making illegal calls. But you can't easily fine telcos for allowing them. That requires you to know the call is going to be illegal.

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

#415

Post by madiathomas »

dredmorbius wrote: post #413
madiathomas wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My phone is always on silent. Unless I am expecting a very important call. I prefer not to be notified. I am even tempted to invest some time and write an app that does exactly what I want -> Reject all calls from unknown numbers.

I've opted out of PSTN entirely, for the past few years.

That's my goal too.

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

#416

Post by shifto »

teddyh wrote: post #307

So many knee-jerk “obvious” solutions in comments here, some with gratuitous violent fantasies to boot. Might I suggest that you look at how your proposed solution compares to other, older, suggestion on how the then-new email spam problem used to be suggested to be fixed: https://craphound.com/spamsolutions.txt Also, this is a mostly exclusively a U.S. problem. In Europe, we basically just don’t ever get “robocalls”…

I'm in Europe (NL) and get a lot of robocalls. Seems to have died down a bit nowadays in favor of fake SMS to replace my debit card but it's all the same spam to me.

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

#418

Post by Izkata »

Marsymars wrote: post #208
philipkglass wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of people living outside the USA who can speak English. Both legitimate and fraudulent English-language call centers are easier to set up internationally than German-language call centers. The robo part of the call can obviously be automated from anywhere but there are actual humans pretending to be from "Apple Support" when a target responds. That raises another question: are other Anglosphere countr…

Oddly, in Canada, many of the spam calls I receive aren't in English. (Mostly Mandarin, though Google indicates it's a problem in the US too: https://www.npr.org/2018/05/10/609117134/chinese-robocalls-b... )

Yep, I'm one of the people in the US that gets those. It's about an even split between those and calls about my bank account (for a bank I have no account at), with only a tiny number of others.

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

#419

Post by bduerst »

cwkoss wrote: post #196
bduerst wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tyre didn't provide data, and neither did you. The 2016 election was complex, especially due to the foreign influence, campaign hacking, fraudulent spending, and free coverage from media. The fact that both the president's campaign manager and his personal lawyer (also RNC finance chair) are currently in prison points to there not being clear visibility into his campaign spending to this day. This doesn't refute the…

Even more complex as the Clinton campaign colluded with the media to deliberately elevate Trump as part of their "pied piper strategy" to promote candidates they perceived as easy-to-beat. https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/fileid/1120/251 Pretty depressing to consider that a portion of donations to the HRC campaign in 2015 were spent promoting Trump.

Hillary Clinton is currently not the president, and those surrounding her campaign are not currently in prison for fraud. Please stop deflecting to conspiracies that are not relevant.

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

#420

Post by qubitcoder »

madiathomas wrote: post #411
coldpie wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wish there was a way to reject all calls coming from numbers who aren't on my contact list. What kind of phone do you have? There are definitely Android apps that do this. This is the one I happen to use, there are many others: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.grus.callb...

I am using an iPhone. I wouldn't mind switching back to Android just for this feature.

This is already built into iOS, no 3rd-party software required (which would probably just siphon off your contacts).

Just go to: Settings > Phone > Silence Unknown Callers

(Calls from unknown numbers will be silenced, sent to voicemail, and displayed in the Recents list.

Incoming calls will continue to ring from people in your contacts, recent outgoing calls, and Siri Suggestions)

Post reply on HN