5 ms·

> LE have abdicated their responsibilities in this area. On the contrary. One of my side-projects is involved with the running an Internet-to-PSTN wake-up-call

> LE have abdicated their responsibilities in this area. On the contrary. One of my side-projects is involved with the running an Internet-to-PSTN wake-up-call service. The service is free-to-use in the US (because domestic calling is so cheap) which also means it gets used by criminal-harassers who send wake-up calls at 4am to their targets (we do aggressively rate-limit which helps mitigate these issues). We are frequently contacted by local police departments across the country (we don't spoof our Caller ID) seeking information about who made the call (roughly 25% of the time we get a subpoena or court order) and almost always we see the call request came from an IP address hiding behind a simple PHP web proxy script or a Tor node. While my story is an anecdote it does demonstrate that it is very easy to hide your identity online for quick hit-and-run harrassment - it's not that LE have abdicated - it's that they've done all they can do - because what can you do with an IP address allocated to Egypt? While the issue I've described is a societal problem, it does have a technical solution: if the phone numbering system were redesigned so they worked more like email addresses then people could change their phone numbers or use disposable numbers and aliases which would put an immediate end to unwanted calls... but that's not going to happen.

eikenberry 10y ago
More phones should just come with whitelist support. Where calls will automatically go to voice mail if it isn't on your list. I have this on my phone due to lots of wrong numbers and it works great.
- mixmastamyk 10y ago
  Details puhlease.
  - DaiPlusPlus 10y ago
    iOS 10 doesn't seem offer a built-in Contacts whitelist feature, but iOS does expose an API allowing third-party applications to filter-out incoming calls and messages: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207099 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207099 - someone could easily write an app that would use your Contacts as a whitelist, assuming one doesn't already exist.
    - mr_spothawk 10y ago
      For iOS, i leave DND mode on full time. Contacts that are Favorited are serve as the whitelist, are not screened by DND. Any second call in 3 minutes will override DND instead of being directed to voicemail.
  - IanCal 10y ago
    Android I'm fairly sure has some relevant things built in. On my Motorola I can set a do not disturb time overnight where only alarms and calls from selected people will come through (and some other options and combinations). This is android 7 settings > sound > do not disturb. There seem to be a lot of apps for whitelisting generally.
  - KerrickStaley 10y ago
    I have a contact on my phone named "Spam" which currently has about 25 numbers associated with it. I have it set to "Route to Voicemail" (option in the Google Contacts app).
  - excoder 10y ago
    For iOS, I'm currently checking out Hiya Caller ID and Block by Hiya https://appsto.re/us/cXg16.i https://appsto.re/us/cXg16.i I've had it installed for about an hour now and indeed have not received a single spam call. Experiment at your own discretion.
  - fapjacks 10y ago
    I'm late to the party, sorry. But I use an Android app called Extreme Call Blocker. Nothing gets through that I don't explicitly allow to get through. And in the case of unknown/anonymous callers, they don't even get my voicemail: There's a setting to pick up the phone and immediately hang up for whichever callers you want. It's basically the equivalent of just not feeding the trolls. It only costs a couple of bucks, but it's easily the best five bucks (or whatever) I've ever spent for an app.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
jjnoakes 10y ago
If that were my business I'd charge $.01 to a credit card per call. A bit harder to hide anonymously then. Or even charge a one-time $1 to sign up, and then free wake-up calls for the life of the account.
- wallacoloo 10y ago
  Or don't accept requests from known Tor exit nodes and open proxies. Lists of these do exist, though you'll have to pay.

eikenberry 10y ago

More phones should just come with whitelist support. Where calls will automatically go to voice mail if it isn't on your list. I have this on my phone due to lots of wrong numbers and it works great.

mixmastamyk 10y ago
Details puhlease.
- DaiPlusPlus 10y ago
  iOS 10 doesn't seem offer a built-in Contacts whitelist feature, but iOS does expose an API allowing third-party applications to filter-out incoming calls and messages: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207099 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207099 - someone could easily write an app that would use your Contacts as a whitelist, assuming one doesn't already exist.
  - mr_spothawk 10y ago
    For iOS, i leave DND mode on full time. Contacts that are Favorited are serve as the whitelist, are not screened by DND. Any second call in 3 minutes will override DND instead of being directed to voicemail.
- IanCal 10y ago
  Android I'm fairly sure has some relevant things built in. On my Motorola I can set a do not disturb time overnight where only alarms and calls from selected people will come through (and some other options and combinations). This is android 7 settings > sound > do not disturb. There seem to be a lot of apps for whitelisting generally.
- KerrickStaley 10y ago
  I have a contact on my phone named "Spam" which currently has about 25 numbers associated with it. I have it set to "Route to Voicemail" (option in the Google Contacts app).
- excoder 10y ago
  For iOS, I'm currently checking out Hiya Caller ID and Block by Hiya https://appsto.re/us/cXg16.i https://appsto.re/us/cXg16.i I've had it installed for about an hour now and indeed have not received a single spam call. Experiment at your own discretion.
- fapjacks 10y ago
  I'm late to the party, sorry. But I use an Android app called Extreme Call Blocker. Nothing gets through that I don't explicitly allow to get through. And in the case of unknown/anonymous callers, they don't even get my voicemail: There's a setting to pick up the phone and immediately hang up for whichever callers you want. It's basically the equivalent of just not feeding the trolls. It only costs a couple of bucks, but it's easily the best five bucks (or whatever) I've ever spent for an app.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

jjnoakes 10y ago

If that were my business I'd charge $.01 to a credit card per call. A bit harder to hide anonymously then. Or even charge a one-time $1 to sign up, and then free wake-up calls for the life of the account.

wallacoloo 10y ago
Or don't accept requests from known Tor exit nodes and open proxies. Lists of these do exist, though you'll have to pay.