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posted by Fnord666 on Monday July 17 2017, @01:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the follow-the-money dept.

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


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Snotnose on Monday July 17 2017, @07:17AM (4 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Monday July 17 2017, @07:17AM (#540211)

    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.

    Lessee, number of calls I've gotten from schools, weather alerts, or public utilities. Zero. Goose Egg. Nada.

    Number of calls I've gotten from political organizations? At times, 4-5 per day.

    Guess who makes the rules on who can robocall me? The politicians. The worst abusers of the system get to say it's ok for them to abuse the system.

    Fucking assholes.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Monday July 17 2017, @11:53AM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 17 2017, @11:53AM (#540261)

    such as messages from schools

    We get those, and they are not legit at all.

    "We spent a lot of money on this, better use it" next thing you know we're getting weekly robo spam calls about teaching your child about bullying on the internet and how to avoid pr0n online (LOL) and similar useless filler.

    I can see the point that if they ever needed the system the time to run it for the first time wouldn't be when they need it for a sudden closing or natural disaster. But the filler they send, ugh.

    There's a name for the crap they robocall out, but I forget. Basically they concern troll us, who could possibly disagree with the smarmy politically correct message that texting while driving is bad. Well, that's nice, but its not worth interruption the day of thousands of parents to tell them useless crap like that. Its not really agitprop other than the occasional scare tactic message around tax increase time and stranger danger.

  • (Score: 2) by Nuke on Monday July 17 2017, @12:59PM

    by Nuke (3162) on Monday July 17 2017, @12:59PM (#540280)

    Ridding the world of robocalls entirely is tricky since some legitimate communications are made using automated call technology, such as messages from .... political organizations.

    Since "the world" was mentioned here, calls from political organisations are NOT legitimate communications everywhere in the world. They have no different status in eg the UK from any other cold call.

    FTFA:-

    The FCC wants to put an end to annoying unwanted robocalls.

    Too many adjectives - is that a deliberate get-out? Some robotcalling outfit will claim that they will still be allowed because their calls are not "annoying" or "unwanted".

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 17 2017, @02:14PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 17 2017, @02:14PM (#540310)

    Pretty much. T-Mobile has started to label certain things as likely scams, which helps, but realistically, this should have been addressed years ago. At this point, only businesses and great fools answer the phone if they don't recognize the number.

    This is itself probably a bit too little too late to be of any practical value.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @12:43AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 18 2017, @12:43AM (#540668)

    Drain the swamp! MAGA!