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Show HN: CallStop – Superhuman for your phone number

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Re: Show HN: CallStop – Superhuman for your phone number

#81
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same thing in France. I wonder if phone spam exists elsewhere than in USA (in UK perhaps) ?

I have mobile numbers in HK, mainland China and UK. I get zero spam on the UK number, and daily spam calls on the other two, although they hang up as soon as they realise I speak neither Cantonese nor Mandarin, which is a good enough spam filter for me :)

Seriously? If my phone makes any kind of noise and/or presents any text or other media that I have to look at and/or dismiss then it is not enough spam filtering for me.

Re: Show HN: CallStop – Superhuman for your phone number

#82

I want something different. I want a Lenny, but that I don't have to conference in. That step is failure prone, takes time, and usually doesn't work -by the time Lenny is on the line, the spammer has long fucked off. I want a "bot" that spews nonsense - but sufficiently plausible nonsense to keep spammers on the line - that I can activate with a single button click, at any point during a phone conversation with anyon…

Absolutely - I think something like this could make it non-profitable to operate as a telemarketer or telescammer anymore.

Re: Show HN: CallStop – Superhuman for your phone number

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Randomized "Enter X to be connected" with 0-9 is a feature several people have requested. I agree that you can probably cut most with just that.

So, a captcha :)

A soundcha ?

Re: Show HN: CallStop – Superhuman for your phone number

#84

People! You really need to get into politics or whatever and fix those things from a legal side! You really need to stop inventing services and starting businesses for the most simple things in life! edit: Don't get me wrong, I love the spirit, but there are _real_ problems to tackle and you are still working on stopping telephone spam? It's 2020, nobody should even think about things like that...

Robocalls are the #1 complaint to the FCC.

Ok, then go out, complain to your local politicians and whom else in charge to make a law to stop it. That's how it works.

Re: Show HN: CallStop – Superhuman for your phone number

#85

People! You really need to get into politics or whatever and fix those things from a legal side! You really need to stop inventing services and starting businesses for the most simple things in life! edit: Don't get me wrong, I love the spirit, but there are _real_ problems to tackle and you are still working on stopping telephone spam? It's 2020, nobody should even think about things like that...

Creating a whitelist service for yourself literally only takes a couple hours studying Twilio docs. Hardly a huge waste of time, and when you get 2 spam calls every morning before 8 am for weeks it's completely worth it.

Creating change in a society might also only take a couple hours, but serve the people next to you and after you.

Just imagine you would be in charge to keep your whole town clean of robocalls. What would you do? Set this up for everybody in town, administer it and take care that it's up 24/7?

Helping (anywhere in the line of this process) to pass a law that simply prohibits such calls seems to be more efficient.

Re: Show HN: CallStop – Superhuman for your phone number

#86
post #6
post #3

Any plans for Android? Would happily pay for a service like this.

Android's built-in "do not disturb" setting supports silencing all phone calls from numbers not in your address book.

One of the features I like about it, though, is the ability to create arbitrary "pin" extensions that I can give out. I'd love for my phone number to be opt-in, worldwide.

Getting spam on a particular extension? Guess CompanyA leaked my number. Blocked.

Call screening is nice, and I actively use it, but a system that is "zero spam by default" is far more preferable than "click to block spam".

Re: Show HN: CallStop – Superhuman for your phone number

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Creating a whitelist service for yourself literally only takes a couple hours studying Twilio docs. Hardly a huge waste of time, and when you get 2 spam calls every morning before 8 am for weeks it's completely worth it.

Creating change in a society might also only take a couple hours, but serve the people next to you and after you. Just imagine you would be in charge to keep your whole town clean of robocalls. What would you do? Set this up for everybody in town, administer it and take care that it's up 24/7? Helping (anywhere in the line of this process) to pass a law that simply prohibits such calls seems to be more efficient.

Most robocalls are illegal anyway, unless you've given your explicit consent to a company, like your utility company.

Making something illegal doesn't mean it goes away completely (or at all). https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0259-robocalls#legal

Re: Show HN: CallStop – Superhuman for your phone number

#88

I want something different. I want a Lenny, but that I don't have to conference in. That step is failure prone, takes time, and usually doesn't work -by the time Lenny is on the line, the spammer has long fucked off. I want a "bot" that spews nonsense - but sufficiently plausible nonsense to keep spammers on the line - that I can activate with a single button click, at any point during a phone conversation with anyon…

Check out the Robokiller app - their answerbots do exactly what you described. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/robokiller-block-spam-calls/id...

I tried - it might work like that on iPhone, but on Android you have to enable some network-specific features that Google Fi doesn't currently support :(

Re: Show HN: CallStop – Superhuman for your phone number

#89
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Creating change in a society might also only take a couple hours, but serve the people next to you and after you. Just imagine you would be in charge to keep your whole town clean of robocalls. What would you do? Set this up for everybody in town, administer it and take care that it's up 24/7? Helping (anywhere in the line of this process) to pass a law that simply prohibits such calls seems to be more efficient.

Most robocalls are illegal anyway, unless you've given your explicit consent to a company, like your utility company. Making something illegal doesn't mean it goes away completely (or at all). https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0259-robocalls#legal

In Germany I can report numbers that are doing spam SMS or calls to a governmental agency and they will be shut down within days. That should be possible for other countries, too.

Re: Show HN: CallStop – Superhuman for your phone number

#90
post #31
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IF (area code == my area code) AND (prefix == my prefix) AND (last 4 != my last 4) THEN SPAM SPAM SPAM ?

YES Also: if (area code == my area code) AND (number NOT IN whitelist) Basically: I have a mobile number in an area I left 15 years ago. Any call I get from there that's not one of my friends is de facto spam.

>I have a mobile number in an area

Wow, that's fascinating to find out that is how the US works.

Australian mobile numbers and I'm pretty sure most of the European ones, are prefixed by carrier and have no geographical breakdown.

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