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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The Federal Communications Commission wants to crack down on unwanted "robocalls" and is looking at ways to help consumers block them.
The FCC wants to put an end to annoying unwanted robocalls.
On Thursday, the commission voted unanimously to evaluate a system that would allow phone companies to check if a number calling you is legit. The goal is to deter unscrupulous companies that make these automated calls from "spoofing," or using a fake phone number to trick you into answering their calls.
A call authentication system could help improve third-party apps that allow consumers to block these calls. It could also open the door to phone companies that may want to offer a service to block unwanted calls.
The FCC has already been considering rules that would allow phone companies to block robocalls from unassigned numbers or from numbers that don't exist.
Ridding the world of robocalls entirely is tricky since some legitimate communications are made using automated call technology, such as messages from schools, weather alerts, public utilities or political organizations. Phone companies don't want to block legitimate calls that consumers want to receive.
[...] The FCC has also been stepping up its enforcement of illegal robocalls. Separately, it voted 2-1 to fine a New Mexico-based company $2.88 million for making unlawful robocalls. Last month, the FCC fined a Florida resident $120 million for allegedly making almost 100 million illegal robocalls in a three-month period.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 5, Insightful) by jmorris on Monday July 17 2017, @02:37AM
Think about it. Put in a *XX number to report unsolicited commercial call, i.e. SPAM and cut a PSA. Regardless what number shows on caller ID, the real number that originated is available to any trunk customer, thus available to any telco. Pick a threshhold of say a dozen reports on a number in a week and then task a human to investigate. The offender's telco gets to police their customers but if a telco goes rogue everyone else can blacklist first the reported numbers and finally the telco, kinda like an old UseNet Death Penalty. When a customer is found to be scamming, no more phone service in that name for five years. Incorporating under a new name costs more than you could bring in before being cut off.
Scam/spam calls drop almost instantly as the small fry die, leaving plenty of resources to track down the hard core scammers. Two months from nightmare to solved problem. I'm no genius so we can assume this idea has occurred to the phone companies. But scammers buy lots of telco service and they would stop paying if they couldn't scam, meanwhile you buy one line and only bitch at the scam calls and pay your bill because you can't imagine life without carrying a LoJack. As with most things, ignore what people say and follow the money. Money is truthful.