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FCC Chairman Proposes Robocall Blocking by Default

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Re: FCC Chairman Proposes Robocall Blocking by Default

#141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Duterte pretends to be a hardass, right? Tell him to deal with it by any means necessary or else the USS Jimmy Carter starts to sever their submarine cables one by one until the problem is resolved that way. If anybody thinks that's too severe, explain to them that DDOSing a nation's telecom system is an act of cyberwar.

Do you really think that having Duterte kill these people is an appropriate response to robocalls? I mean, sure, I understand the temptation , but... it's a bit extreme for the actual harm being done.

> "Do you really think that having Duterte kill these people is an appropriate response to robocalls?"

Pretty sure he'd need only threaten the Philippine telecom executives with death, but if he wants to carry through with it at this point I wouldn't shed a tear.

Re: FCC Chairman Proposes Robocall Blocking by Default

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately completely socializing the healthcare system would tank the economy thats why no serious person in washington is pro universal healthcare.

"a new study [0] from the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst finds that single-payer health care will save the US $5.1 trillion over a decade while drastically cutting working-class Americans’ health spending." [1] "Blahous’s paper[2], titled “The Costs of a National Single-Payer Healthcare System,” estimates total national health expenditures. Even though his cost-…

Studies like these are worse than worthless. Just look at any recent major public works project for an example of cost overruns.

Here's how we could lower costs for Americans overnight: Allow importation of prescription medicines.

Medicare for all will lead to doctors for none. It's really hard to get appointments from places that accept Medicare, it's just not worth the hassle for many doctors to deal with them.

Re: FCC Chairman Proposes Robocall Blocking by Default

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"a new study [0] from the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst finds that single-payer health care will save the US $5.1 trillion over a decade while drastically cutting working-class Americans’ health spending." [1] "Blahous’s paper[2], titled “The Costs of a National Single-Payer Healthcare System,” estimates total national health expenditures. Even though his cost-…

Studies like these are worse than worthless. Just look at any recent major public works project for an example of cost overruns. Here's how we could lower costs for Americans overnight: Allow importation of prescription medicines. Medicare for all will lead to doctors for none. It's really hard to get appointments from places that accept Medicare, it's just not worth the hassle for many doctors to deal with them.

[citation needed]

Re: FCC Chairman Proposes Robocall Blocking by Default

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's clear to me that the U.S. has the technical capability of hunting down the origins of these calls, and bring the offenders to trial. How is that clear?

Think NSA

I think you are ascribing magical powers to the NSA that they don't have.

Re: FCC Chairman Proposes Robocall Blocking by Default

#145
post #17
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's this voice captcha you use?

Anveo Call Flow. Numbers not on a whitelist get a recording "press 1 to be connected" which repeats three times a couple seconds apart. If they don't press 1 they get sent to voice mail. I also have a blacklist that gets a captcha which says "press 1 to leave a voice mail" and hangs up if they don't.

I've always thought that binding robocallers in a contract that they must accept to speak or leave a message would be fun. Notify the caller that you charge a fee that's your state's maximum small claims award and add that the fee to be waived at your discretion for legit business. The big problem is spoofing and overseas calls, but I'd bet you could nab a few cases.

I'm thinking something like, "All unsolicited calls concerning the sale, lease, rental, or exchange of goods and/or services, regardless of past contact between calling parties or their third party affiliates, will incur a $5000/hr convenience fee, minimum billing for 1 hour, to be paid to _your name_ at POBox ... in full within 90 calendar days of the current date. This fee may be waived at _your name_'s discretion. Press 1 to accept or hang up to decline."

Bonus points if you fit the fee discussion in before the call center switchboard hand-off to a live operator.

Re: FCC Chairman Proposes Robocall Blocking by Default

#146
post #62

Robocalls are a constant annoyance for me (I get maybe 1 per day on average) and almost all of them are criminally fraudulent solicitations of some kind including calls impersonating the Social Security Administration etc. It's like being forced to read my spam folder with an audible alert. I have to field calls from a lot of clients that I have never spoken to before or have only called them a couple times, so only…

One!!?!? I am keeping track, and my biggest day was 29 robocalls about 2 weeks ago (all between 7am and 6pm). I don't always use privacy protection when registering domain names, so my number is out there, and after I get a new domain I get crushed over the next few days with robocalls. I am in the same boat where I have to answer all the calls or I lose business, so it's a nightmare. Also, I can't even do anything p…

I had someone make a robocall to everyone in my area code using my number... and then everyone called _me_ back all day long asking me "whats up?" and things like that. It was incredible and when I called my provider they told me there was nothing they can do to stop it because robo-callers can spoof the numbers they appear to be calling from and they have no audit trail for it.

I feel like this is a completely solvable technical problem, I can't accept that it has to be this way.

Re: FCC Chairman Proposes Robocall Blocking by Default

#147
post #70

Why don’t we just fine the telco $10 each time they connect an obviously fraudulent call? The fact that they’re still using signaling system 7 is not a defense for their negligence.

Because the people appointed are essentially placed there by companies that profit more by having the system the way it is right now.

Re: FCC Chairman Proposes Robocall Blocking by Default

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"a new study [0] from the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst finds that single-payer health care will save the US $5.1 trillion over a decade while drastically cutting working-class Americans’ health spending." [1] "Blahous’s paper[2], titled “The Costs of a National Single-Payer Healthcare System,” estimates total national health expenditures. Even though his cost-…

Studies like these are worse than worthless. Just look at any recent major public works project for an example of cost overruns. Here's how we could lower costs for Americans overnight: Allow importation of prescription medicines. Medicare for all will lead to doctors for none. It's really hard to get appointments from places that accept Medicare, it's just not worth the hassle for many doctors to deal with them.

"This study is worthless, but here's my unsubstantiated opinion instead" is a weird argument.

Re: FCC Chairman Proposes Robocall Blocking by Default

#149
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spam communication blocking isn't a revenue stream in other markets (e.g. email, snail mail, etc.), and while cell service may seem like an oligopoly, there is enough competition that customers will scoff at switching to a provider that nickel and dimes on spam blocking.

Really? What competition is there in the U.S. cellular market? MVNOs are beholden to whomever they buy from. T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, Verizon. That's 4 carriers total. Definition of oligopoly: Oligopoly is a market structure with a small number of firms, none of which can keep the others from having significant influence. I can literally buy a SIM card in Europe for my phone that gives me 5 times my monthly usage for…

> Democrats are pretty terrible too, but mostly because they are naive, unwilling to get their hands dirty, and try to play by rules that are only used by them.

The Senate best represents the "party elders" while presidential administrations come and go. And judicial nominations are a major responsibility of the Senate.

They used to be largely pro-forma: as long as the nominee had a decent judicial record, the party in power was allowed to nominate whoever they wanted. Democrats started scorched Earth tactics back with Justice Bork back in '87; attacking his character and slandering him rather than challenging his competence.

Seeing that Alberto Gonzalez was likely to be a Hispanic Republican SCOTUS nominee, they wanted his career ended, and the hearings were so vicious his wife miscarried.

And this has gone off the rails finally with Kavanaugh. Regardless of the truth of Blasey's accusations, it is irrefutable that Democrats sat on them until the last minute, releasing the accusations to delay the nomination until they could retake the Senate.

This was using a criminal accusation, and the human being who was potentially a victim of rape, as a weapon to further their political ends. This represents the deepest and most inhuman disregard possible for the rule of law and justice.

All the while, Democratic nominations continue to either go through, or they have been denied by procedure, which was always the rule and the entire point of having elections. At no point have Democratic judicial nominees been removed by slander that would itself be a crime in any other context.

Re: FCC Chairman Proposes Robocall Blocking by Default

#150
post #32

I'm curious why robocalls aren't protected by freedom of speech. This is the government censoring small businesses from doing direct marketing. I don't actually believe this argument, but I'm curious what self-described free speech absolutists think.

Funny how those "small businesses" never seem to use their real contact number and business name on their caller ID. If an actual person from a local business wants to cold call me with their actual name & number displayed up front, that's a lot more acceptable to me than random robocalls that spoof a number in my cell phone's area code that I haven't lived in for 5 years.
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