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FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]

docs.fcc.gov

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Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]

#201

Post by cletus »

prawn wrote: post #196
cletus wrote: post #184

Good. But really, why did this take this long? It should be relatively easy to identify the bad actors here and I don't mean the spammers, I mean the telcos that make this possible, deliberately so, by essentially "laundering" spam calls. My response to picking up a number is to answer the call and say nothing. Auto-dial systems will route the call to a person when they get a "live" response. I don't know the criteri…

I'd noticed that initial silence thing as well, but mostly because I answer and speak immediately. The spammers generally have a lag on their software and connect shortly after my greeting. Then while I'm waiting in silence, they've missed that sign of life and sit there doing nothing.

So again, I don't really have a provable basis for this, but I don't want to give positive proof that they've reached a live human. I feel like that's a recipe for getting continually called.

Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]

#202

Post by imajoo »

cglong wrote: post #157
mehrdadn wrote: post #145

Can someone explain what this will translate into in terms of the end-user experience? For one thing, authentication will be next to useless (at least to me) if my phone is still going to ring. So does that mean it's not going to ring for a spoofed number? Also, if it results in tons of voicemail then that's still going to be quite annoying. (How) is the actual end-user experience going to be addressed?

From my understanding, it basically means all telecoms will be required to do what T-Mobile already does in the U.S. If I get a call and the reported Caller ID doesn't match the transmitted one, it reads on my phone as "Scam Likely". Pixels also have their own solution to this: If that condition occurs, the Google Assistant will answer the call and auto-decline if it is actually a robocall.

I think T-Mobile only does this for postpaid users though. Prepaid users are excluded AFAIK.

Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]

#203

Post by Nursie »

mehrdadn wrote: post #145

Can someone explain what this will translate into in terms of the end-user experience? For one thing, authentication will be next to useless (at least to me) if my phone is still going to ring. So does that mean it's not going to ring for a spoofed number? Also, if it results in tons of voicemail then that's still going to be quite annoying. (How) is the actual end-user experience going to be addressed?

This is a first step, make all this stuff able to be traced and authenticated.

Step 2 is to start to put the fraudsters in jail, now we can figure out who they are.

This also means easier blacklisting for the client.

Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]

#206

Post by pkaye »

StavrosK wrote: post #200
pkaye wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US we get a fair amount of spam calls originating from India. So an english speaking country would be their target.

Hmm, I see. What are they selling?

I think mostly IT scams or falsely representing a tax agency. But these days I mostly get automated calls. I have a way around those which is when I answer a call, I don't speak until the other side says hello. Automated calls just assume the line is dead and hangup. I think these automated called are used by the spammers to identify live numbers a flurry of real call will follow up in a few days.

Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]

#207

Post by frank2 »

zszugyi wrote: post #51
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm struggling with the decision of whether to automatically block anyone not in my contact list and leave a message in my voicemail explaining why. Don't want to be unfriendly, but it's only getting more ridiculous.

I did try it for a bit, but it was annoying when Uber drivers and delivery people were trying to reach me.

Maybe we should lobby Uber to add functionality to their mobile app to eliminate the need for a legacy phone call.

Maybe after a few popular apps do that, the phone companies will start to fear losing relevance and finally take effective action against phone spam.

Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]

#208

Post by 0x00000000 »

ableal wrote: post #177
ugh123 wrote: post #166

I didn't see anything in there about penalties for carriers not enforcing this. Also willing to bet they beg for extensions claiming they're not ready - or too costly to implement.

Good point. I suspect carriers tolerate scammers because they're good for the bottom line.

When I got a new phone, I got a text saying that I was on a free trial of Verizon’s spam call blocking service. Needless to say they have every reason to remain complicit

Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]

#209

Post by StavrosK »

pkaye wrote: post #206
StavrosK wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, I see. What are they selling?

I think mostly IT scams or falsely representing a tax agency. But these days I mostly get automated calls. I have a way around those which is when I answer a call, I don't speak until the other side says hello. Automated calls just assume the line is dead and hangup. I think these automated called are used by the spammers to identify live numbers a flurry of real call will follow up in a few days.

That sounds really annoying, I can't imagine being bothered by spam calls multiple times a week.

Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]

#210

Post by nimish »

cletus wrote: post #184

Good. But really, why did this take this long? It should be relatively easy to identify the bad actors here and I don't mean the spammers, I mean the telcos that make this possible, deliberately so, by essentially "laundering" spam calls. My response to picking up a number is to answer the call and say nothing. Auto-dial systems will route the call to a person when they get a "live" response. I don't know the criteri…

It took this long because the fcc is run by people who simply do not believe in using government to enforce oversight.
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