Because technology is at the crux of the problem, the FTC is tapping one of the world's largest hacking conferences for some high-caliber technical support. We're very excited to share that the FTC will hold a contest at DEF CON 22 in Las Vegas, NV, Aug. 7-10, to inspire the next generation tech solution in the fight against illegal robocalls. The FTC and our law enforcement partners are particularly interested in the development of robust, cutting-edge robocall honeypots (an information system designed to attract robocallers), which can help experts and authorities understand and combat illegal calls.
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Robo-callers, beware: The FTC is going to DEF CON!!
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Sunday June 22 2014, @02:59AM
Seems nice that the FTC is all for "terminating" the robocallers permanently. But what's the catch? Profile ordinary phone users?
(seems like a nice effort thoe)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Tork on Sunday June 22 2014, @03:45AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by art guerrilla on Sunday June 22 2014, @11:35AM
hate robo-calls...
hate captcha...
rock, meet hard place...
further, not liking there are so many 'exceptions' to the 'do not call' lists...
IF they wanted to make a more granular list, where you could opt-in/out of various categories, that would be okay, but giving exceptions to so many, the list loses a lot of its value...
and you 'register' or make an 'account', or email inquiry, etc at any two-bit website, and you end up as another 'exception' of doing 'ongoing business', and get more calls...
grrr...
(Score: 2) by marcello_dl on Sunday June 22 2014, @03:02PM
while it would not be impossible to set up a voicemail system with captchas, I would like a way to get rid of human telemarketers too. I'd like a system to filter out everything but family, acquaintances who don't ask for money, nigerian princes who want me to inherit all their wealth for real, and STD-free attractive nymphomaniacs. Note that the latter three categories are imaginary, so the implementation is not so difficult.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 22 2014, @03:31PM
Google voice can be set to force every first-time caller (based on caller-id) to identify themselves by voice before it will ring your actual phone. I've had the service since before google bought the company (like 8 or 9 years now) and I've had zero telemarketers ring through. I wish there was some other company offering the same feature, it is the only google account I have.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 22 2014, @04:05AM
Real? or Fake: including the surveys, charities, political, debt collectors (need special punishment for those asking if you have a neighbor named XYZ?), etc, etc, etc. Quit exempting and/or ignoring all the thieves, in or out of office!
(Score: 4, Informative) by Nickyname on Sunday June 22 2014, @04:15AM
Theres a website called NoMoRobo.. weird name, but works great.. It works IF your phone can have calls ring two phones at the same time.. When you sign up they give you a toll-free number to set to ring along with your line when a call comes in.. IF the call is from a detected robo-caller, the toll-free line hangs the call up after only one ring on your phone.. In other words, if your phone only rings once then stops, you just dodged a robocaller... Works great, and is free.. I have zero to do with it, just discovered it about a month ago and love it...
https://www.nomorobo.com/ [nomorobo.com]
(Score: 5, Informative) by Angry Jesus on Sunday June 22 2014, @04:43AM
NoMoRobo is the result of a previous "FTC X Prize" [ftc.gov]
(Score: 1) by MSC_Buff on Monday June 23 2014, @03:33PM
NoMoRobo should NOT have been one of the winners of the FTC contest.
Disclaimer: My entry (http://robocall.challengepost.com/submissions/13334-the-phone-cop [challengepost.com]) was not selected in the FTC challenge so I am a bit biased against this supposed solution. After seeing how the contest panned out it was obvious the FTC wasn't serious about protecting anyone. For example: They required blocking ILLEGAL robo-calls but most people complain about robo-calls which are perfectly LEGAL (political and so on...). I have many other complaints with how the contest turned out but feel free to check out the comments posted by others on the winning entries and read the rules of the contest to see how the FTC borked it.
Finally, do you really want every call you receive sent to a private company? Just call NoMoRobo a baby NSA.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 22 2014, @04:25AM
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Sunday June 22 2014, @06:10AM
Indeed.
Indeed is a good word, don't you think?
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday June 22 2014, @08:53AM
Indubitably.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Sunday June 22 2014, @08:39AM
A telephone whitelist/blacklist box [teleblocker.com]
Has anyone had any experience with anything like this? I have been wanting to build something like this, but it looks like someone else beat me to it, and looks like they made a far more compact box than I would have made.
The things I would want in the ability to configure it using a computer/USB port so I can use the computer's keyboard, disk drive, and large display to let me see what I am whitelisting/blacklisting and be able to import/export those files as a .csv. Also, I would like it to go ahead and answer all calls with an offer to ring the physical phone if they are given the correct password, e.g. something like "354*", that one could give their friends, with option to either take a message or simply dump unidentified or unwanted callers.
The telephone has become such an annoyance to me that I hardly ever pickup the thing unless I recognize the number. I have wasted far too much time and had way too much anxiety because I gave a telemarketer the courtesy of taking his call. They have already prepared for the call, I haven't. Its kinda risky to take the call, as I have been known to say "yes" when I should have said "no", or reveal info I would have just as soon kept private. For me, its like a game of three card monte. They have already rehearsed what to say and what response they take to any reply I come up with. I take the call dead cold, not quite knowing which end is up after a few minutes of it, I take the call and get connected to a high-pressure saleshead first making pleasant small talk then it starts jackhammering about what it wants and won't take no for an answer. Would have been a lot better if I had never picked the damned thing off the hook.
Also, the phone seems to be the favorite tool of scam artists, posing as bill collectors, my bank, or someone claiming legal power to cause me problems. They love hiding behind spoofed ID, or "private caller". Now, I would just as soon pick up a phone flashing "private caller" as open my door to a face hiding behind a ski mask with just a pair of eyes and a hole below bellowing "open the door.. I want to talk to you". I do not even want to acknowledge I exist to it. I figure if its that important, they will send it to me by mail - at least that way I have some evidence and have time to think about my reply.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Sunday June 22 2014, @04:28PM
linux, with chat, and so forth....depends on your personal complexity threshold!!
but i simply attach a fax machine to mine (the type with memory and no printing!!), and I get a decreasing number of crap calls.
Of course, the only reason I have a landline is because I have DSL (no-TV, no cable). Yet ATT think they should charge you for caller-id? WTF?
Hence, a fax machine is cheaper and let them eat "brrrrr-wheeeee-brr-weeeee"...
Use a mobile that can block calls otherwise. I simply add all unwanted numbers to a contact "SCAM HANGUP", and surprising the level has dropped almost to zero.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Monday June 23 2014, @02:15AM
I have been puzzling over using a Raspberry PI loaded with something like this.... especially if I could upload a bunch of .MP3 voice files to it so the machine could act as an answering service to a voice caller. I'd love to mimic the technology used by corporations so that I do not have to concern myself with handling 99% of the telephone callers.
Basically, an extension of "Google Voice" in a local box. Something I could log into just like logging onto Google Voice. It might not be able to parse speech, but it could act as a VOIP answering machine in conjunction with a VOIP service. Maybe act a little like an OBi110 box...
I hate to piss off telemarketers too much, as they just might do a "joe-job" on me and spoof my number as theirs on the PBX they are originating all their crank calls from. I have caught them spoofing too many numbers already, that when a telemarketer calls, I cannot trust anything my equipment tells me. I just try to avoid them. I may miss a meaningful call once in a while, but I sure have avoided a lot of headaches by simply leaving the phone on the hook. It seems like 99% of the time, if I answer it, its just some high pressure talk-guy trying to get me to set up an appointment for a team of talk-guys to show up at my house - then the problem is even worse. Its like trying to get the sales crowbar into a crack, once you have opened up the crack, game-over. Always Be Closing. After the sales guys leave, I then have to put up with a bunch of people doing the bare minimum that would justify presentation of a payable invoice. I had just as soon deal with people who have built up a reputation with my neighbors, not someone who can simply dial a phone.
Another thing that irritates me a lot about sales people, it seems like only the ones completely technically ignorant call me. I would like to buy some solar panels and installation, as I have a patio that has rotted out and really needs to be replaced. The solar panels would make a great patio cover... but I want them wired up a certain way with microinverters. If they don't have any, I can build exactly what I want. But it seems they insist on doing grid-tie as per some tax incentive. I want to do DC. I will invert and send excess power to the grid - with stuff I know exactly what it is. And if the grid goes down, by golly I still want my end running. I heard from way too many New Yorkers after Sandy that they had those big solar arrays up, but could not use them because the grid was down. I have spent my whole life doing electronic design, and to me this is like getting the toaster plugged in.
AT&T? Look into something called a "dry loop". Its just internet. Then use something like NetTalk [nettalk.com] VOIP service... ( NetTalk is one of many VOIP providers... I am presently researching NetTalk for my own use right now... Their box is kinda like a MagicJack which does not need a computer.
AT&T where I am does not want to play ball with me, as they know good and well what I am up to. I may have to go to Time Warner to get their internet only package... they claim its $15 a month and does not require "with qualifying services"...
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Monday June 23 2014, @10:18AM
Interesting, though I work off the simple principle I simply do not respond to unsolicited calls. Hence, the fax machine, it at least lets you hear if the call starts talking....
(Score: 5, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday June 22 2014, @08:58AM
You know it's big news when a headline ends with two exclamation marks.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 22 2014, @10:23AM
Okay, so they're going to crack down on outbound anonymous IP phone dialing? Like spam, there's a chain of plausible deniability built into the system. Companies sell outbound dialing over IP phones to robocallers, and the robocallers know exactly how long they can use the access before getting shut down. The company that sells the outbound dialing will just say they had no idea what the company was going to do with the access, and shut them off. The scammers know they can just change the name of their company and buy more outbound dialing access. Unless the government stops the profit motive in each step of the plausible deniability chain, nothing is going to stop robocall spam. You don't need technology. Why not have a three strikes program for outbound access resellers? Three robocall scammers and you're shut down.
(Score: 1) by MSC_Buff on Monday June 23 2014, @04:00PM
**Shameless self promotion**
This is a solution I created to stop robo-callers from my home land line:
http://thephonecop.com/ [thephonecop.com]
There are a few posts and videos there but they are a bit dated. The most current progress is on the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Phone-Cop/406292446126450 [facebook.com]
The Phone Cop has been protecting my home for almost 2 years and has a 99% reliability. The tone detection is software based and sometimes the robo-call is a pre-recorded message which triggers the detection and transfers the call.
My goal is a DEV kit Kickstarter this year. Just a bunch of parts in a bag with a PCB and some software to download. A little bit of soldering, flash the chip, plug it in and say goodbye to robo-calls...:)
With a bit of Kickstarter success and funding an off-the-shelf commercial version would be possible.
Note: I have kept my land line as a public number and refuse to hand out my private cell number. I know more and more people are dumping the land line but the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) will be with us for a long time. Even new VOIP systems still use that RJ-11 jack for an analog phone...:)