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AT&T Will Now Filter Robocall Spam, If You Pay Them Extra

24 points by rahuldottech 7y ago

Causality1 7y ago
Private entities that knowingly transmit robocalls, spam, and financial scams should be prosecuted for harassment and accessory to fraud. As they've long argued, they're not a common carrier with a responsibility for neutral content transmission.
- mutt2016 7y ago
  While I disagree with you.. Nope that's all I got. That comment was a really good wtf
  - somepig 7y ago
    I, too, can disagree (with parent, not grandparent) without commenting in a useful manner!
mikece 7y ago
So if I pay more for this service and still get robocalls, do I get double my money back, only what I paid back, an apology, or pointed to a section in the terms and services that paying extra guarantees me nothing?
herpderp3dtwerp 7y ago
NomoRobo has been doing this for ages. Lots of companies do this already.
tareqak 7y ago
I just had a thought, and it might be a very bad one: why can't robocallers be de-platformed in the same way Facebook and Twitter de-platforms accounts they consider to be harmful on their platforms?
- MiddleEndian 7y ago
  There's no moral reason for any of these actions. AT&T makes money from spammers, so do the other networks, and it's hard to switch phone providers, so they won't stop them. Unless they are forced to either block the calls or forced to forward the origination information so users can block whatever callers they want using a ublock/adblock style subscription list, this won't stop.
  - ergothus 7y ago
    Are you equating moral reasons and economic reasons?
    - MiddleEndian 7y ago
      I'm saying that AT&T will never take a moral stand against spammers, and they have no incentive to take an economic stand. Companies like Twitter that "deplatform" (see: ban) users do do because it's more profitable to do so than not for a variety of reasons. So the only shortish term solution is a legislative one. The long term solution I see is that people will stop using phone service entirely if the reliability does not improve. I'd be fine with that. AT&T wouldn't be but that's beyond their next few fiscal years so I doubt anyone working there now cares.
  - krageon 7y ago
    > There's no moral reason Of course there is a moral reason. There are moral reasons we can come up with for every possible human action, because morals are subjective. Thus, the statement "There's no moral reason" is always false. The opposite is meaningless (in the same way that saying "water is wet" would be meaningless).
    - MiddleEndian 7y ago
      This is nothing but pedantry. All I'm saying is that AT&T isn't going to come up with a good solution to spammers out of the kindness of their hearts.
olliej 7y ago
This may be a dumb question, but when I first moved to the US I was stunned to find that I was paying to receive calls and text messages. Is that still a thing? If so, would knowingly forwarding spam and fraud, and charging you to receive said call be itself fraudulent?
dkraft 7y ago
Verizon too. Despicable.
true_tuna 7y ago
First one to do it for free wins the mobile market.

24 points by rahuldottech 7y ago

Private entities that knowingly transmit robocalls, spam, and financial scams should be prosecuted for harassment and accessory to fraud. As they've long argued, they're not a common carrier with a responsibility for neutral content transmission.

mutt2016 7y ago
While I disagree with you.. Nope that's all I got. That comment was a really good wtf
- somepig 7y ago
  I, too, can disagree (with parent, not grandparent) without commenting in a useful manner!

mikece 7y ago

So if I pay more for this service and still get robocalls, do I get double my money back, only what I paid back, an apology, or pointed to a section in the terms and services that paying extra guarantees me nothing?

herpderp3dtwerp 7y ago

NomoRobo has been doing this for ages. Lots of companies do this already.

tareqak 7y ago

I just had a thought, and it might be a very bad one: why can't robocallers be de-platformed in the same way Facebook and Twitter de-platforms accounts they consider to be harmful on their platforms?

MiddleEndian 7y ago
There's no moral reason for any of these actions. AT&T makes money from spammers, so do the other networks, and it's hard to switch phone providers, so they won't stop them. Unless they are forced to either block the calls or forced to forward the origination information so users can block whatever callers they want using a ublock/adblock style subscription list, this won't stop.
- ergothus 7y ago
  Are you equating moral reasons and economic reasons?
  - MiddleEndian 7y ago
    I'm saying that AT&T will never take a moral stand against spammers, and they have no incentive to take an economic stand. Companies like Twitter that "deplatform" (see: ban) users do do because it's more profitable to do so than not for a variety of reasons. So the only shortish term solution is a legislative one. The long term solution I see is that people will stop using phone service entirely if the reliability does not improve. I'd be fine with that. AT&T wouldn't be but that's beyond their next few fiscal years so I doubt anyone working there now cares.
- krageon 7y ago
  > There's no moral reason Of course there is a moral reason. There are moral reasons we can come up with for every possible human action, because morals are subjective. Thus, the statement "There's no moral reason" is always false. The opposite is meaningless (in the same way that saying "water is wet" would be meaningless).
  - MiddleEndian 7y ago
    This is nothing but pedantry. All I'm saying is that AT&T isn't going to come up with a good solution to spammers out of the kindness of their hearts.

olliej 7y ago

This may be a dumb question, but when I first moved to the US I was stunned to find that I was paying to receive calls and text messages. Is that still a thing? If so, would knowingly forwarding spam and fraud, and charging you to receive said call be itself fraudulent?

dkraft 7y ago

Verizon too. Despicable.

true_tuna 7y ago

First one to do it for free wins the mobile market.