11–20 of 339 posts
The first order problem with spam calls/sms is you probably opted in to something. Most spam, like it or not, you asked for, and they can almost certainly prove it. The TCPA lawsuit business was so lucrative for years that a lot of effort goes into producing proof that the contact is legal. Rather than stopping spam calls these laws basically guarantee spam, but legal spam. Also carriers have pretty well cracked ille…
My Voip provider allows for sending receiving text messages as well, and I can certainly set the outgoing number. In our office, there are about 10 different phone numbers, but all outgoing texts are set to come from our "main" number no matter who sent it. And I've been able to change this number to my cell phone number and other numbers that aren't from the VOIP provider.
For anyone else reading, this service is called "10 Digit Long Code" AKA 10DLC. Many business-oriented VoIP providers eventually use a vendor like Syniverse or Sinch for the outbound SMSes. Those wholesale carriers usually either strongly encourage their customers to require verification of sending numbers, or outright require it in the contract. This appears in the wholesale carriers' guidance to their customers, like https://syniverse-web.s3.amazonaws.com/10DLC-Carrier-Pricing... and https://www.sinch.com/sites/default/files/file/2023-03/Intel.... From your experience, it's clear that there are exceptions.
The first order problem with spam calls/sms is you probably opted in to something. Most spam, like it or not, you asked for, and they can almost certainly prove it. The TCPA lawsuit business was so lucrative for years that a lot of effort goes into producing proof that the contact is legal. Rather than stopping spam calls these laws basically guarantee spam, but legal spam. Also carriers have pretty well cracked ille…
I always ask what my name is when an unknown caller calls, and 90% of the time it’s the old dead guy.
I did not opt in, yet here I am getting a few dozen calls per week at all hours of the day.
Is there any reason to think that this would work for political party donation spam? Do the telecom carriers that provide services for all those horrific text messages about how the other party is going to install a dictator unless you donate to them right now actually care enough to punish those?
Keep in mind that sometimes they can skirt the rules by not using automation per se. Instead, they have a bunch of volunteers sit in a room (or online) with special apps that distribute a phone number list (often from NGPVan or the Republican equivalent, forget what it's called) between the individual devices. Then each human has to click "send" or "call". It still gets routed through their VOIP systems, but because there's a human in the loop, it's no longer fully automated... just like 90%, enough to get around the FCC rules.
It's pretty sketch. I went to one of those volunteer parties before I realized that's what they're doing.
Thankfully Google Fi does a really good job at blocking this kind of spam, texts or calls.
The amount of spam I get since I left Googles old number service is insane. Whats worse is some will say reply stop to stop and just send you more bullshit.
Is there any reason to think that this would work for political party donation spam? Do the telecom carriers that provide services for all those horrific text messages about how the other party is going to install a dictator unless you donate to them right now actually care enough to punish those?
In the US you can report them to the FCC: https://www.fcc.gov/rules-political-campaign-calls-and-texts Keep in mind that sometimes they can skirt the rules by not using automation per se. Instead, they have a bunch of volunteers sit in a room (or online) with special apps that distribute a phone number list (often from NGPVan or the Republican equivalent, forget what it's called) between the individual devices. Then…
So, you should still report it to the sending carrier.
Background: Most larger, reputable US-based wholesale carriers have policies that are similar to the CTIA's guidelines for political campaigns: https://www.ctia.org/news/political-text-messaging-engaging-... . CTIA sets a much higher threshold, including opt-in permission.
This is a bit like the FCC's definition of email spam (a very low bar - what's legal) vs. a mainstream email service provider's terms of use (a much higher bar - what they permit you to send through them).
This is really nice. Would be great if you can also include some examples for Europe. Of couse, i would be up to do some digging if you need help.
This is really nice. Would be great if you can also include some examples for Europe. Of couse, i would be up to do some digging if you need help.
One of the carrier lookup APIs that the site recommends, Twilio's "Line Type Intelligence" API, may support numbers in other countries. That might be a place to start: https://reportphonespam.org/#How-do-I-look-up-more-numbers