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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: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 19 2019, @08:13PM (7 children)
However, on topic, the Senate unanimously passed the anti-robocall bill that the House sent over, so that will most likely end up going into law (it is that last step in the bill making process that has not been very reliable these last few years).
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday December 19 2019, @08:20PM (2 children)
(Ok I'll stop!)
Well it's not public yet but it sounds like it might be a good bill. [thehill.com]
I thought robocalls were already illegal, though (except for political ones, because, of course!) So I'm not really sure what another law will do. Or, am I just mistaken?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday December 19 2019, @09:15PM
Robocall fines rise to $10,000 per call under newly passed law
https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/19/21030114/robocalls-bill-congress-president-trump-sign-law-illegal-fcc-ajit-pai [theverge.com]
He better hurry and sign. The Senate trial is expected to be lightning fast. Fair and balanced.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday December 19 2019, @09:42PM
Political robocalls are extremely helpful for weeding out the candidate you don't want to be sending you robocalls.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 19 2019, @08:27PM (2 children)
It seems that this should be an easy fix.
After a call is received, just dial *86 (or something), this will change the sender of the last call $0.10. Nothing to anyone that is not doing anything wrong, but for those call centers, it would drain them.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DannyB on Thursday December 19 2019, @09:11PM (1 child)
Are you sure it would call back the robocaller, or some innocent who's number was spoofed?
A lot of robo calls seem to be from local numbers. Thus raising the incentive to answer.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by toddestan on Friday December 20 2019, @03:10AM
Don't be silly. The phone company knows who to bill. How do you think they make their money?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 19 2019, @10:52PM
Sorry, I meant to say "predictable", not "reliable". The Senate has gotten burned a couple of times and they are once bitten, twice shy on everything.