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FTC to Award $25,000 for the Best Honeypot Design to Trap Robocalls

posted by mrcoolbp on Thursday March 05 2015, @10:46AM   Printer-friendly
from the flies-with-honey dept.

n1 writes:

Ars Technica reports:

On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced another contest to design a system to "identify unwanted robocalls received on landlines or mobile phones, and block and forward those calls to a honeypot." The agency will select "up to five contestants" as part of what it’s calling "Robocalls: Humanity Strikes Back."

The first qualifying phase launches Wednesday and runs through June 15, 2015 at 10:00pm Eastern Time, while the final phase concludes at DEF CON 23 on August 9, 2015.

Here's the FTC contest page. There's another similar contest (with no cash prize) being held "as part of the National Day of Civic Hacking." It appears they have done something similar in previous years as well.

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 05 2015, @02:54PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 05 2015, @02:54PM (#153515)

    1. Why is the FTC getting into law enforcement?

    2. Why is the FTC paying for technology that already exists, but isn't implemented due to trade regulation? (or weren't they aware of that, being the Federal TRADE Commission?)

    3. Isn't that more of a legal problem than a technological problem, since the judiciary has no capacity for on-demand consumer requested wiretap warrants?

    4. Doesn't question 3 suggest that the FTC is solving a problem that cannot be legally implemented?

    5. Shouldn't the FTC document the legal scope of its actions BEFORE setting off on some NCIS inspired adventure?

    How about this as a contest instead:

    25k$ to the first soundbite of a Congressman captured at home from his Samsung TV posted online. Bonus points if he's watching porn.

  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday March 06 2015, @08:32AM

    by kaszz (4211) on Friday March 06 2015, @08:32AM (#153756) Journal

    Perhaps the FTC is gaming the system to beat any "donors" that would otherwise stall any attempt like this?