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

The FCC wants your ID before you get a phone number

reclaimthenet.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 112 posts

Re: The FCC wants your ID before you get a phone number

#41

Post by aspbee555 »

spam/phishing/malicious calls do not come from individuals. How about they start with preventing caller ID spoofing/requiring proper caller ID?

the spam calls come from call farms that rotate numbers. they should be required to present a unified and verifiable caller ID

Phone systems can put whatever they want in caller ID, there should be verifiable reverse lookup to a valid registered number along with fines for violators

requiring an individuals ID to get a phone number is going to make the spam/phishing/malicious problem WORSE along with the enormous risks of that database being exposed/abused

Re: The FCC wants your ID before you get a phone number

#42

Post by jancsika »

Lonestar1440 wrote: post #10

Privacy has to be one goal among many in a reasonable society. I am very glad to see this change, because phone-based Fraud is a plague on the Elderly and other vulnerable members of society. And an incredible annoyance even to a security conscious professional. The guard against intrusive and oppressive government is the Bill of Rights, not some easy ability to get a phone number anonymously.

> Privacy has to be one goal among many in a reasonable society.

I have to say, coming from "Lonestar1440" that implies quite the rebrand for Texas:

Texas: Just One Star Among Fifty Equals.

Edit: clarifications

Re: The FCC wants your ID before you get a phone number

#43

Post by fwipsy »

Lonestar1440 wrote: post #10

Privacy has to be one goal among many in a reasonable society. I am very glad to see this change, because phone-based Fraud is a plague on the Elderly and other vulnerable members of society. And an incredible annoyance even to a security conscious professional. The guard against intrusive and oppressive government is the Bill of Rights, not some easy ability to get a phone number anonymously.

The Bill of Rights was published over 200 years ago. It can't possibly anticipate the modern privacy landscape. We need to (and do) extrapolate from the intent of the Bill of Rights to cover modern technology. Protecting phone and internet traffic is an example of this, but no longer sufficient. The US is becoming a panopticon. The Fourth Amendment protection against wiretapping is insufficient when the government also collects so much metadata. If we cede every form of privacy not explicitly protected by the Bill of Rights, we will soon find that on their own they provide barely any privacy at all.

Hahaha who am I kidding, that ship has sailed. It's a lost cause.

Re: The FCC wants your ID before you get a phone number

#44

Post by maccard »

KevinMS wrote: post #6

I can understand the motivation. I've had the same number since the 90's and never once got a spam call until I was in the hospital last year and since then I've been getting 2-3 a day every day. They've probably left at least a thousand voice mails for a great loan opportunity, all from different numbers and different loan amounts.

Then the FCC have hid this well - they don't want this to stop spam they want it to link phone numbers to people.

If they wanted to stop spam they'd fix it so that carriers were required to ensure the numbers aren't spoofed. This would stop spam overnight.

Re: The FCC wants your ID before you get a phone number

#45

Post by mattmaroon »

2ndorderthought wrote: post #19
mattmaroon wrote: post #5

Does anyone imagine the government doesn’t already know who owns every phone number? Also, couldn’t this system be optional, numbers that are ID-verified are somehow flagged so (assuming I choose) when one calls my phone knows to let it through and when an unverified number calls it doesn’t ring?

They know through indirect means. So they buy all the cellphone data specifically the gps location data in the us and funnel it through huge servers. So they can determine patterns, addresses, etc. This makes that easier and doesn't risk any of the legality if their should be illegal data sources or other likely illegal activities. Tldr: This is a way to defeat vpns.

Yeah I strongly suspect this will allow them to use it in court considerably more frequently.

But still, I know they know who I am. Anyone with a cell phone in their pocket has no privacy. It’s the best tracking device ever.

Anyone who thinks anything at all can make that problem worse simply doesn’t understand that they have none.

I’d rather have zero privacy and zero spam calls than zero privacy and lots of spam calls. Obviously I’d prefer privacy and I think we need a constitutional amendment to that effect, but as far as showing our ID to eliminate spam in a world where zero privacy exists, sign me up.

Re: The FCC wants your ID before you get a phone number

#46

Post by tomrod »

trollbridge wrote: post #27
varispeed wrote: post #2

Domestic abusers rejoice. Just hide the victim's ID and they won't get a phone.

My state has laws specifically about this which help DV victims replace stolen wallets, birth certificates, IDs, and so on. Whether we like it or not, ID is required to function in society these days. The public has, in general, decided they don't like the alternatives, and I would count myself among those who would prefer to have working phone service again without endless junk calls versus the hypothetical ability…

> Whether we like it or not, ID is required to function in society these days.

Why?

Re: The FCC wants your ID before you get a phone number

#48

Post by reaperducer »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #39
SoftTalker wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phone numbers aren't protected health information.

Is the fact that I was in the hospital protected health information? If not, why not?

I wouldn't blame the hospital.

It was documented years ago that lawyers were buying cell phone location data from the carriers in order to drum up potential clients in hospitals.

Blame the data industry and big tech.

Re: The FCC wants your ID before you get a phone number

#49

Post by reaperducer »

SoftTalker wrote: post #36

Back when all phones were land lines were you able to get service connected without showing some identity? I honestly don't remember, and I had land lines at several addresses. I would assume they would want to ID the account owner in case they later had to collect, but they at least had the name you gave them, probably SSN or drivers license number too.

You didn't have to give them an ID because they knew exactly where the phone was going.

I had my first phone installed back when you had to walk down to the phone company office and sit at a desk and fill out a form. Then a week later, a guy showed up at your home and put the wires in.

When I had my second line installed, it was after the Bell breakup, but again they didn't ask for ID, but I had to give them a $50 deposit to be used against phone rental and per-minute service.

Re: The FCC wants your ID before you get a phone number

#50

Post by simoncion »

tomrod wrote: post #46
trollbridge wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My state has laws specifically about this which help DV victims replace stolen wallets, birth certificates, IDs, and so on. Whether we like it or not, ID is required to function in society these days. The public has, in general, decided they don't like the alternatives, and I would count myself among those who would prefer to have working phone service again without endless junk calls versus the hypothetical ability…

> Whether we like it or not, ID is required to function in society these days. Why?

Yeah. This USian has reliable access to the following without presenting ID

* Telephone service

* Internet service

* A rental apartment to live in and relevant utilities

* Food

* Clothing

* Entertainment

* Medical care

* A bank account

It has been so long that I can no longer clearly remember, but I think that I didn't have to present ID to get my job and get paid.

Maybe things are way worse over in Euroland? Or maybe US-based authoritarians have successfully used the threat of imaginary "Stranger Danger" to turn the screws tighter for access to some of those things over the past ten, twenty years? I know it's not medical care, internet access, food, clothing, or entertainment because I've changed providers for those fairly recently.

Post reply on HN