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AT&T ramps up its fight against robocalls with Call Validation feature
The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have been trying, at least in theory, to stop the robocalling scourge from spreading for many years now, but even though a recent survey estimated a mind-blowing 200 million unwanted calls go through every single day in the US, the nation's major carriers are finally taking action against the thing that threatens to kill the enjoyment of using a mobile phone in this day and age.
Well, at least two of the "big four" American wireless service providers are making a concerted effort to clean their networks of spammers, scammers, and number spoofers, as AT&T follows T-Mobile's suit in implementing the SHAKEN/STIR standard to offer its customers a little more peace of mind when receiving a call from someone they don't know.
[...] Unfortunately, both Call Protect and Call Validation are currently only available on three high-end Android devices. Namely, Samsung's Galaxy S10 and S10+, as well as the LG V40 ThinQ. If it makes you feel any better, you don't have to do anything special to get the newly released feature enabled on the aforementioned smartphones. You will simply start seeing a green checkmark and the words "Valid number" on your handset's display when an incoming call is authenticated. That's a small step forward for one carrier and... an even as a whole.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday December 19 2019, @09:19PM (4 children)
Lily Tomlin correctly identified the problem a long time ago:
"So, the next time you complain about your phone service, why don’t you try using two Dixie cups with a string? We don’t care. We don’t have to. We’re the phone company."
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday December 19 2019, @10:38PM
They are not only monopolists, they work hard to keep it that way. And Ajit Pai is happy to help them get whatever they want. Because corporations are people too!
Every performance optimization is a grate wait lifted from my shoulders.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday December 19 2019, @11:12PM (1 child)
For another take on how powerful the TelCos are I suggest a 50 year old film:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_President%27s_Analyst [wikipedia.org]
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062153/ [imdb.com]
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Friday December 20 2019, @02:52AM
I'd think a better take on their clout would be here [opensecrets.org]. When you've at least attempted to buy 350 Representatives, 66 Senators, and everybody with a snowball's chance in hell of becoming president, I'd say you're pretty influential.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Hyperturtle on Friday December 20 2019, @03:16PM
No doubt. "Is this the party to whom I am speaking?" is actually getting validated now with this service.
I would love to see it work on land lines. I am not goign to install some app so that the phone company can do their job. They don't have to call me to have my hardware do... anything.. but connect me to the caller and display the received caller information.
I kept a landline despite all of the teasing I endured from friends and even family. I use it for nearly everything that asks for a number. I do not get texts, offers, ads, unexpected alerts with valuable offers, etc... I used to have a telezapper thing (the problems it solved have evolved beyond its ability to provide such disease immunities...) but I do set the home phone ringer to silent if not expecting a call. the missed call indicator shows I easily get over 100 unsolicited calls per month--sometimes from the same number! I have a call blocker thing built into the phone (unrelated to a service from the phone company), but it only hosts 30 entries, and I have to clear it out as the source numbers change over time.
It sort of sucks to pay for a service I only use to order pizza and chinese takeout (or received pre-planned calls or as a plan-B in case I totally drained my cell phone and batteries on some late night maintenance window...), but the fact that my cell gets remarkably few random scam callers rather than targeted to me specifically stuff... the privacy and lack of interruption provided by a landline I mostly use as a black hole feels like a luxury sometimes.