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I don't think we need to ban robocalls. People do want to know when their school closes, when their prescription is ready to pick up, when their utilities will

I don't think we need to ban robocalls. People do want to know when their school closes, when their prescription is ready to pick up, when their utilities will be undergoing maintenance, etc. The ban should be on unsolicited calls, which sort of does already exist, but has two major problems: too many exceptions, and calls from outside of US jurisdiction.

bobthepanda 3y ago
whatever happened to SHAKEN/STIR and why didn't that fix everything like people said it would?
- PeterisP 3y ago
  IIRC it's still being slowly implemented, as slowly as things are made mandatory - because any telecoms that can make money by forwarding fraudster calls to other telecoms don't want to support it.
- soupsranjan 3y ago
  I believe SHAKEN/STIR was mandated only for calls originating from within the US, however, most of these fraud calls are originating over VOIP (or SIP) from outside the US.
wyre 3y ago
all of those things can be communicated just as easily over text message. A solution could be opt-in on the customer side, and the business could need a license from the telecom to robocall. Otherwise the FTC could fine the telecom and/or the business for unsolicited robocalls. I would go as far to say unsolicited business calls, automated or otherwise, should be banned.
- JoBrad 3y ago
  Not everyone can receive or read a text message.
  - terribleperson 3y ago
    Not everyone can hear a voice-mail. My partner is deaf, and if Google Voice can't transcribe a voice-mail, they don't know what it says until I listen to it.
    - kube-system 3y ago
      Many automated messages that I get come via both text and voice, I presume, for this reason.
plagiarist 3y ago
It should be possible to hit a button and receive $1 for every unwanted phone call. If the carrier cannot come up with a liable party, they are responsible for the $1. Ban robocalls, though, and just pay real humans to make those calls instead of overpaying superintendents.
- thfuran 3y ago
  It's hard to collect, but you're actually entitled to something like $500 per violation of the do not call list. I do wish there were a button on my phone to collect all that money.
  - plagiarist 3y ago
    That would be rad. The problem is all the guys trying to contact you about your car's warranty are outside US jurisdiction or hidden. If the phone companies were liable at all that would end immediately. I'm fine if it's $500 instead of $1, but it has to be easy to collect. You used to be able to collect direct from spammers if you could hunt them down, too. I think CAN SPAM ended that, which is a shame.
    - thfuran 3y ago
      Yeah "hard to collect" is something of an understatement.
- godelski 3y ago
  I've always wondered why Google and Apple don't build a report button into their dialer that allows you to generate a FCC complaint. This seems like a pretty easy task but doesn't seem useful from a third party app. It would auto fill a fair amount of information for you. I'm sure this would burden the FCC system, but I'm not sure that's a big concern and rather just would force the FCC to recognize the scale of the problem. Hard for politicians to argue against too: "We need to defund the FCC because companies like Google and Apple are over burdening the systems with reports of spam callers!" It would also be nice if they streamlined the ability to add yourself to the DNC list. Google engineers that are here, is there a reason you don't do this? If not, can you do it in your 20% time? 350 million of us will thank you.

bobthepanda 3y ago

whatever happened to SHAKEN/STIR and why didn't that fix everything like people said it would?

PeterisP 3y ago
IIRC it's still being slowly implemented, as slowly as things are made mandatory - because any telecoms that can make money by forwarding fraudster calls to other telecoms don't want to support it.
soupsranjan 3y ago
I believe SHAKEN/STIR was mandated only for calls originating from within the US, however, most of these fraud calls are originating over VOIP (or SIP) from outside the US.

wyre 3y ago

all of those things can be communicated just as easily over text message. A solution could be opt-in on the customer side, and the business could need a license from the telecom to robocall. Otherwise the FTC could fine the telecom and/or the business for unsolicited robocalls. I would go as far to say unsolicited business calls, automated or otherwise, should be banned.

JoBrad 3y ago
Not everyone can receive or read a text message.
- terribleperson 3y ago
  Not everyone can hear a voice-mail. My partner is deaf, and if Google Voice can't transcribe a voice-mail, they don't know what it says until I listen to it.
  - kube-system 3y ago
    Many automated messages that I get come via both text and voice, I presume, for this reason.

plagiarist 3y ago

It should be possible to hit a button and receive $1 for every unwanted phone call. If the carrier cannot come up with a liable party, they are responsible for the $1. Ban robocalls, though, and just pay real humans to make those calls instead of overpaying superintendents.

thfuran 3y ago
It's hard to collect, but you're actually entitled to something like $500 per violation of the do not call list. I do wish there were a button on my phone to collect all that money.
- plagiarist 3y ago
  That would be rad. The problem is all the guys trying to contact you about your car's warranty are outside US jurisdiction or hidden. If the phone companies were liable at all that would end immediately. I'm fine if it's $500 instead of $1, but it has to be easy to collect. You used to be able to collect direct from spammers if you could hunt them down, too. I think CAN SPAM ended that, which is a shame.
  - thfuran 3y ago
    Yeah "hard to collect" is something of an understatement.
godelski 3y ago
I've always wondered why Google and Apple don't build a report button into their dialer that allows you to generate a FCC complaint. This seems like a pretty easy task but doesn't seem useful from a third party app. It would auto fill a fair amount of information for you. I'm sure this would burden the FCC system, but I'm not sure that's a big concern and rather just would force the FCC to recognize the scale of the problem. Hard for politicians to argue against too: "We need to defund the FCC because companies like Google and Apple are over burdening the systems with reports of spam callers!" It would also be nice if they streamlined the ability to add yourself to the DNC list. Google engineers that are here, is there a reason you don't do this? If not, can you do it in your 20% time? 350 million of us will thank you.