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Why go for the technical option is the legal one is far more effective? In my country hospitals (and so on call) from an "unknown" number. So blocking that is

by bkor 12y ago

Why go for the technical option is the legal one is far more effective? In my country hospitals (and so on call) from an "unknown" number. So blocking that is a bit dangerous. There's a general "do not cold call" list and if you get a cold call while being on that the company behind it can get a hefty fine per call that they make. There's an government organization which checks if companies abide to this (and a few other things). They seem to enjoy going after companies and fining them. Which is probably why I don't get any cold calls. Note: Obviously there are all kinds of rules, etc. E.g. once you add yourself to the cold call list, there's 6 week grace period (as companies are allowed to only update their do-not-call list every so often). Though at the same time, even if you're not on the country's do not call list you can still ask to be put on the list for the company calling you. It is mandatory for a company to do that. Else the company will get a fine. There's different rules for companies which have or had a business relationship with you.

kodis 12y ago
While this will vary from country to country, at least here in the US there are several situations where the legal means are not more effective. The main one is scammers who just don't care, either because they're running a "hit and run" type of operation or because they're operating from overseas. Then there are classes of phone calls which are (again, at least in the US) exempt from the legal "do not call" rules: politicians making campaign calls, and survey firms, which the politicians use to determine who to bother calling. It's a nice loophole that they've constructed for themselves. Luckily it's only a problem for a few month every other year.
- wpietri 12y ago
  The US regulators are working hard at it, but it's a challenging problem. The robocalls I all get now are very good at masking where they are from; the humans you talk to know not to give away the name or location of the company. For those interested in learning more, the FTC had a robocall summit a few years back and they recorded the webcast: http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events-calendar/2012/10/robocalls-all-rage-ftc-summit http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events-calendar/2012/10/roboc... There was a lot of good technical detail on why it's now hard to track these people down.

by bkor 12y ago

kodis 12y ago

While this will vary from country to country, at least here in the US there are several situations where the legal means are not more effective. The main one is scammers who just don't care, either because they're running a "hit and run" type of operation or because they're operating from overseas. Then there are classes of phone calls which are (again, at least in the US) exempt from the legal "do not call" rules: politicians making campaign calls, and survey firms, which the politicians use to determine who to bother calling. It's a nice loophole that they've constructed for themselves. Luckily it's only a problem for a few month every other year.

wpietri 12y ago
The US regulators are working hard at it, but it's a challenging problem. The robocalls I all get now are very good at masking where they are from; the humans you talk to know not to give away the name or location of the company. For those interested in learning more, the FTC had a robocall summit a few years back and they recorded the webcast: http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events-calendar/2012/10/robocalls-all-rage-ftc-summit http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events-calendar/2012/10/roboc... There was a lot of good technical detail on why it's now hard to track these people down.