FCC Threatens To Block Calls From Carriers For Letting Robocalls Run Rampant (theverge.com) 78
The Federal Communications Commission is threatening to block calls from voice service providers that have yet to take meaningful action against illegal robocalls. The Verge reports: On Monday, the FCC announced that it was beginning the process to remove providers from the agency's Robocall Mitigation Database for failing to fully implement STIR/SHAKEN anti-robocall protocols into their networks. If the companies fail to meet these requirements over the next two weeks, compliant providers will be forced to block their calls. "This is a new era. If a provider doesn't meet its obligations under the law, it now faces expulsion from America's phone networks. Fines alone aren't enough," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement on Monday. "Providers that don't follow our rules and make it easy to scam consumers will now face swift consequences."
The FCC's orders target seven carriers, including Akabis, Cloud4, Global UC, Horizon Technology Group, Morse Communications, Sharon Telephone Company, and SW Arkansas Telecommunications and Technology. "These providers have fallen woefully short and have now put at risk their continued participation in the U.S. communications system," Loyaan A. Egal, FCC acting chief of the enforcement standards, said in a Monday statement. "While we'll review their responses, we will not accept superficial gestures given the gravity of what is at stake."
The FCC's orders target seven carriers, including Akabis, Cloud4, Global UC, Horizon Technology Group, Morse Communications, Sharon Telephone Company, and SW Arkansas Telecommunications and Technology. "These providers have fallen woefully short and have now put at risk their continued participation in the U.S. communications system," Loyaan A. Egal, FCC acting chief of the enforcement standards, said in a Monday statement. "While we'll review their responses, we will not accept superficial gestures given the gravity of what is at stake."
I look forward to the freeze peach posts (Score:1, Troll)
There's nothing like a good astroturfing campaign to really get the comments section going.
Please do. I no longer have the car(s). (Score:5, Insightful)
Please do. I still keep getting calls about a miata and rx-8 I haven't had in forever.
And some unintelligible Indian fella telling me my Windows has a Worm or Wirus.
This should've been done years ago... and has nothing to do with freeze peach, it has everything to do with telcos taking $ from shady clients and delivering shady calls, because $ is $.
Re:Please do. I no longer have the car(s). (Score:4)
This seems to be almost entirely a US problem. In my whole life living outside the US I've had 1 robot call. While living in the US it was at least 1 a day.
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This seems to be almost entirely a US problem.
Many other countries have "caller pays" billing for calls. These scammers can't afford to pay for their calls.
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Caller pays for these scams as well. International calling rates, in bulk for businesses, are actually very cheap. They have to get the phone line in the first place.
That said, why I think it is more common in the USA:
1. More wealthy, on average
2. More English speakers out there to scam.
3. More obvious target.
etc...
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Those all make sense, and I'd probably add "Lax or non-existing consumer protection" as well.
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Also, its the American Way: you too can get rich if you discard your morals and ethics. You aren't going to be rich if you stop to think "can I get away with this?"
But to be honest, a large number of these scammers are outside of the US. Those that are only marginally scammy are probably in the US. And all the political crap of course upskirting the law.
I do remember back in the 90s when USENET really tried to crack down on the spam posts, one of those guys posted an angry rant about how we were all commu
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Yeah, I think every rich first world country has the same spam call problem - US, Canada, UK, etc. The average wealth means scamming people for $500 at a time is less likely to "hurt" - even if you dis
Re: Please do. I no longer have the car(s). (Score:1)
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Yeah, almost as bad as those who put Biden in office knowing how bad he was.
You see how stupid partisan bickering is yet? It makes you into the idiot when you bring politics into things.
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Or maybe the GOP is friendly to the advertising industry lobby, and they've prevented the FCC from coming down on the carriers until now.
Re: Please do. I no longer have the car(s). (Score:1)
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More English speakers?
I live in an area where Chinese speakers are probably less than 5% of the population. The most common spam call I get is in Chinese. I have no idea who the fuck thinks blanket spamming my area code in Chinese is going to be a productive scam, but they do it constantly. I keep assuming that they'll eventually stop because it must be so unproductive, but 2+ years into their campaign I still get a call every week or two.
Rate problem (Score:2)
Okay, I think I wasn't too clear:
1. Spamming the USA in English is a good try, because most people in the USA speak English, they're relatively wealthy, and finding english speakers(even with thick accents) is relatively easy. More people learning English as an additional language than pretty much any other.
2. Note that I said "more common", not "only". You getting a spam call in Chinese once every week or two is drastically less than my parents getting not just spam calls, but actual SCAM calls, more l
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A few years ago, I played a voicemail that one of these scammers left on my phone to a Vietnamese person I knew. This person is fluent in Chinese of some kind, and he identified it as such (I didn't ask if it was Cantonese of Mandarin). He told me that it was some kind of banking scam.
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Apparently, the Indian scam farms go after UK residents as well. So, it's just not a US problem.
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I get tons. Not in the US. Also mostly Indian scammers.
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Along with the other reasons, part of it is simply economics. If you're going to scam someone, your best target is to scam the richest person you can. And that, on a global average, is Americans.
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I have had zero Robocalls in my life (Europe). I have had 3 Spam calls in the last 20 years and one of the call-centers doing one of them got raided a few days latter and shut down. It helps that there is a fine in the 50k range (per unsolicited call), for example in Germany.
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This seems to be almost entirely a US problem. In my whole life living outside the US I've had 1 robot call.
Where do you live then? In the UK I get about two a week. I got more when I lived in a city, on my landline, but they have moved more to target mobiles and mine is mostly switched off at home.
Anyway, do you get human voice cold calls? If so, it is a fact that many of those are robocalls, but a human agent takes over when you answer so you don't get to hear a robot voice.
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Different people have different experiences. I'm in the US, and I get approximately 40 calls *per day*. I'm pretty sure I'm an outlier.
Most of them are trying to sell me final expense insurance plans. Their script is "I'm calling to let you know about final expense insurance plans that have recently been authorized in your area that can cover up to 100% of your funeral, burial, and cremation costs."
Some are trying to sell me supplemental medicare. "I want to talk to you about new low-cost supplemental medic
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This seems to be almost entirely a US problem. In my whole life living outside the US I've had 1 robot call. While living in the US it was at least 1 a day.
Yes and no, I've had a few similar calls in the UK and Australia, it's less of a problem because the government said to the telcos "If you let this happen, we'll charge you" meaning "if you take money from spammers, be prepared to lose all of it and some in court". I get about 2-3 spam calls a year. Mostly via dodgy VOIP systems doing number spoofing.
A large part of why some people, especially here in the UK get loads of spam calls is because they give out their number to all and sundry (or worse, have i
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... people also need to treat their own numbers with respect]
Hardly possible when so many on-line transactions require your phone number in order to send an authorisation code before you can procede any further. This is partly as a result of new legal requirements for 2FA. So your phone number is in the records and hands of on-line dealers, shady or not, secure or not.
Anyway, many if not most of these calls are made by robots ploughing through numbers numerically. If the number does not exist they have lost nothing. I got more calls from "Microsoft" in India
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That is nothing, I keep getting calls about my car warranty that is getting ready to expire. The problem is, I do not own a car and haven not in 10 years.
I read somewhere that fraud is responsible for 30% of the US economy. It is probably not far off.
My first charge on a new credit card was a recurring membership in pseudo-AAA automotive service. When I disputed it, the credit card company assured me that the company claimed that I had signed up for it (which thus ended their investigation). I imagine 9
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Normally "prove it" fixes this issue right quick.
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This should've been done years ago... and has nothing to do with freeze peach, it has everything to do with telcos taking $ from shady clients and delivering shady calls, because $ is $.
Seconded. Free speech, PUC, Common Carrier; none of that has any relevance here. Robocalls and robotexts are a plague that needs to be stamped out.
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You know, let the market self-regulate.
Well, are YOU willing to spend your life changing services until one get's it right?
Doubtful. THAT's why certain regulations are necessary. And why we need a government focused on just the right kind and amount of regs to enact and ENFORCE.
So, get your arse out there and vote for sensible leaders.
(Note: In case you are unaware, ANY ReTrumplican is NOT sensible. Rather, they
And nothing of value was lost (Score:3, Insightful)
Should've banned their asses years ago.
Finally.
Please (Score:2)
Please do. Please. Please. Now!
But.... (Score:3, Funny)
Ajit Pai worked so hard for these robocallers freedoms.....
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Only enough to gather up the golf balls and resell them in the clubhouse.
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Fuck, you're a confusing individual.
Not just robocalls (Score:2)
Re:Not just robocalls (Score:4, Interesting)
Scam calls I get are usually not robocalls: they have a human on the other end. Is STIR/SHAKEN also supposed to prevent those?
Those (at least where I'm at in sofla) are scarce, and short-lived. We had a rash of "FPL Energy, You Want Some Dodgy Solar?" that was human-powered but the real FPL clobbered that real quick.
I've had one, just one of those extortion calls. IN spanish, no less, from a supposedly PR areacode. "If you don't pay we'll kill your brother." "Oh yeah? Put him on. What's his name? What's he look like?"
I don't have a brother. I just keep trolling them harder until I'm pretty sure i heard a blood vessel pop on the other end.
The *vast* majority of the spam calls here are Susan from Card Services, and Car Warranty calls. I mean, really...
Re:Not just robocalls (Score:5, Informative)
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They are robocalls. They just connect you to a live scammer if a human is detected answering.
Hope this blocks SPAM texts too (Score:3)
I get more SPAM texts than phone calls -- counting legitimate calls *and* SPAM calls. Most of the calls flagged "Suspected SPAM caller" by Android end up as hang ups. For those rare SPAM calls that leave a voicemail message, I report them to the National Do Not Call Registry [donotcall.gov] -- for the calls where Caller ID shows one number but the message says a different one, I report both numbers. Don't know how much any of that helps, but it makes me feel better. Can't (yet) report texts to the Feds, but I do report them to my carrier -- "..."->Details->Report / Block SPAM.
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I report them to the National Do Not Call Registry
Has no teeth. None. Every now and then they do a "feel-good" sweep of an egregiously spammy entity, but that's about it. Useless waste of our tax $.
I used to report them. Gave up around 2014 or so.
Spam texts I do send to 7726 (att's "SPAM" number). Now takes emails too -- and I do get a fair bit of spamtext from @gmail.com
The really ironic / scammy thing about AT&T Wireless -- to get caller ID and more advanced blocking you need a 3.99 / mo. subscription. How shit is that?
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Do Not Call forked for about 6 months. Then they realized that no one enforces this and it all came back. In the US system there is really lax enforcement most of the time, and it is based upon someone creating a lawsuit. In cases where there is enforcement they will create agencies that will occasionally create lawsuits on the government's behalf but it tends to be spotty. Since these are all civil crimes there is no law enforcement agency that bothers with it, as long as no one crosses the line into f
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What does the acronym "SPAM" stand for?
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What does the acronym "SPAM" stand for?
The meme answer is "Spare Parts And Mice" (for the canned meat. No one really knows what the name means. Probably picked for being short and memorable and easy to say. It's not an acronym.)
How it ended up as shorthand for unwanted email, who knows. 80's / 90's computer nerds (that's us) were the first to use it.
How it corresponds to the canned meat, I have no idea.
Re: Hope this blocks SPAM texts too (Score:2)
No one really knows what the name means.
Or you know, it's short for Spiced Ham.
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Or you know, it's short for Spiced Ham.
I've heard that one too. I find the Spare Parts And Mice more humorous. And in these post-truth times.. what does it really matter? Go with the Funny!
FWIW, SPAM can work, fried up in a pan, with some bell peppers and onions...
Yes I am wired weird.
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FWIW, SPAM can work, fried up in a pan ...
Whoever was responsible for our school dinners thought that it worked too.
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FWIW, SPAM can work, fried up in a pan, with some bell peppers and onions...
Diced up spam is actually pretty good with eggs. We had "spambled eggs" with peppers, mushrooms, onions and grated cheese (obviously) many times for Sunday lunches growing up. The obscene amount of salt in the spam seasons the eggs, and it's a lot cheaper than bacon :)
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It purportedly came from this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bW4vEo1F4E
Re:Hope this blocks SPAM texts too (Score:4, Interesting)
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I have only had a few texts. But I get 3 or 4 calls a day from unrecognized number, "non profit", or numbers that clearly aren't real (not enough digits).
What will all the anti spam youtubers do? (Score:2)
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They'll have to find other ways to make a living.
Onlyfans?
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Onlyfans?
I smell a business opportunity. If your suggestion takes, then people will need Brain Bleach!. I'll sell it and become rich beyond the dreams of avarice! ...nah, doesn't work like that for us proles.
Just those providers? (Score:5, Interesting)
Spanking bouncers versus a tech fix (Score:1)
How about updating our standards to make it much harder to forge original meta data.
Correction [Re:Spanking bouncers versus a tech fix (Score:1)
Correction: "origin meta data".
Modnays
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Hmm, new person in charge of FCC? (Score:3)
Someone who is not bought off by the big telco / Internet companies?
Had to look up the current chairperson of the FCC, which is Jessica Rosenworcel, a non-orange party member. We get this action because Ajit Pai is no longer at the FCC. Looks like a change in Washington has resulted in one minor improvement.
Now how about some spam relief?
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You would be wrong, since this all started with Ajit Pai. Perhaps the issue is more with your partisanship, and not with the other party?
FYI, the (D)s are more in bed with corporations than the (R), it is a feat of propaganda that makes you think that they are for the little guy. Consider how Hollywood Accounting became a thing, or how Wall Street is mostly on the (D) side to see some of how they are pro corporate.
eclectro detailed why you are wrong above: https://it.slashdot.org/commen... [slashdot.org]
What about jail? (Score:5, Interesting)
Piss them off, it's fun (Score:3)
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When I get scam calls, ... I immediately say, "No you're not ...
I don't do that immediately but play them along. I tell them I'm hard of hearing so they must shout, slowly, then I walk away from the phone. When I check 5 minutes later they are often still going strong. Then I ask them to repeat from the beginning.
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Sometimes I'll say, "Is this really what you wanted to be when you grew up?"
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Sometimes I'll say, "Is this really what you wanted to be when you grew up?"
"Are your parents proud of what you do?"
Private wealth should not be allowed (Score:1)
The potential for rent-seeking creates an inherent conflict of interest.
Google Screening (Score:2)
Haha. (Score:2)
Haha. "We mean it this time. No, this time we really mean it. No, this time we really really mean it."
Wonder if it'll impact Canadians... (Score:2)
Up here in good old Canukistan we keep getting the rather terse "Chinese Lady" screaming at you. I had a friend who speaks the language translate, turns out it's a well known scam in the Chinese community here where they try to convince you there's an issue with your Canadian immigration status - if you let them transfer the call they'll try to get to pay a bill to expedite the paperwork, otherwise they "deport" you back to mainland China.
Except two problems:
* I speak English.
* I'm not Chinese.
* I was born