Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is this problem unique to the USA? Every time this topic comes up on HN, someone asks that same question. Then there's a bunch of responses that are lots of suppositions. Then several people from small European countries chime in saying they've never had a spam call. Then a bunch of Europeans from large countries show up saying they get spam calls, too, and it's not just an American thing. "Why is this problem un…
Oh, I can actually weigh in here. In the past ten years, I've spent significant amounts of time in the US, France and the UK. In the UK, I get the occasional spam call ("I'm calling with regards to the recent accident that wasn't your fault..."). At its peak, I got about one such call per week. It's been months since I've had a spam call. In France, I got zero. In the 7 years I lived there, I got exactly zero. Every…
FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]
281–290 of 352 posts
Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]
#282Good. 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…
This is a naive assumption. I've come across robocallers that do exactly this. It is sort of trivial, if you think about it.
Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
A non-driver's state ID works for everything you'd use a driver's license for except operating a motor vehicle. Even though people typically say, "Driver's license" when they really mean either kind of state-issued ID card.
Isn't a driver's license nearly as easy to renew as a non-driving state ID? I don't see the point, even if you only need to rent a car on rare instances.
Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]
#284Does this mean I can start answering my phone again? Are there other vectors for spam calling which are not addressed by this solution?
Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]
#285Good. 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…
Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
It took this long because the fcc is run by people who simply do not believe in using government to enforce oversight.
Good thing we replaced career lobbyist Tom Wheeler with someone who would actually do something, right? Are we so looking at the FCC through our worldview that we can't even acknowledge positive action? Wheeler was born on April 5, 1946 in Redlands, California. He attended Ohio State University.[7] From 1969 to 1976, Wheeler led the trade group Grocery Manufacturers of America.[8] He then went on to work at the Natio…
Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]
#287If you’re wondering if STIR/SHAKEN was a James Bond reference, the answer is yes, and SHAKEN stands for “Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs”
I vaguely wonder sometimes as to what's the origin of the extreme US cheesiness with these names. Like, it's elementary-school level kitsch. So far my guess is ‘the forties’. Or maybe the fifties, with all the ‘atomic’ ridiculousness.
The name in the post seems pretty emotionally neutral.
Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
A non-driver's state ID works for everything you'd use a driver's license for except operating a motor vehicle. Even though people typically say, "Driver's license" when they really mean either kind of state-issued ID card.
Isn't a driver's license nearly as easy to renew as a non-driving state ID? I don't see the point, even if you only need to rent a car on rare instances.
Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]
#289Earlier quoted context omitted.
The passport card is no longer valid for international flights, only entry by land or sea.
It was never valid for international flights. It is, however, valid as ID for domestic flights (and I have used it as such).
Re: FCC will require phone carriers to authenticate calls by June 2021 [pdf]
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
We shouldn't interfere in the free market. Those robocalls are just good old American ingenuity.
? Telecom is one of most regulated industries in the United States. Not sure why this pattern ("look how bad the free market is" @ highly regulated market) is so common here and on reddit.
Someday we'll have A.I. to screen calls for us, and hopefully it can also screen this highly-upvoted-but-worthless tripe from message boards for us.