Techcrunch
The FCC is finally going to require wireless carriers to implement anti-robocalling technology, after asking them nicely for more than a year to do so at their convenience. Of course, the FCC itself is now required to do this after Congress got tired of waiting on them and took action itself.
The technology is called Secure Telephony Identity Revisited / Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs, mercifully abbreviated to STIR/SHAKEN, and amounts to a sort of certificate authority for calls that prevents phone numbers from being spoofed. (This is a good technical breakdown if you’re curious.) More
Heh, Verizon must have known this was coming, because they were allowing so many robocalls through week before last my wife finally had to pay for their Call Filtering service. They tried to do this to me last week too but it finally stopped. The calls were coming every 10 minutes. They’ve had the ability to do it all along. Guess they were making a full-court press.
Symantec, McAfee and others were responsible for computer viruses. Lotta profit there.
It’s about Goddamn time. Make it a capital offense and hang anyone connected to anyone who even dreams about making an unsolicited phone call.
My IP phone (on the company network) on my desk showed an incoming call as TELECOM GROUP on the caller ID display. I answered. Was an AT&T sales call.
That’s just bogus as fvck, and done by a carrier.
OBTW, my car warrantee is dead as a mackerel, I don’t owe the IRS thousands, there are no active warrants for my arrest, my dick is probably going to stay limp, and I have no grandchildren in jail in Bosnia. So quit calling.
I get 2-4 per day through Metro PCS. Was up to 6-10 per day at one time. Try to call the number back only to find it doesn’t exist. Just block the Spoof number so they can’t use it again on me. Great news that these scammers will be basically shut down.
I recently been getting spam text messages.
Hello David, thanks for your interest! Let us know if you still want your free cruise!
Hello David, I have a new iPhone replacement for you!
etc,etc,etc.
Not only is my name not David, but I’ve never asked for a cruise and don’t even have an iPhone to be replaced.
I won’t count on the government fixing anything. Will keep the do not disturb function on my phone. If you’re not in my contacts, my phone won’t ring but will go to voicemail function instead. Telemarketers more often than not don’t leave messages.🤖
But how will I renew the warranty on my 13-year old truck?
I would hang them dead for a first offense and then shoot the sons a bitches if they reoffend. I had enough of their shit years ago. It is particularly maddening when you are setting up for a cut on a table saw or radial arm and also have to monitor the phone like people with elderly parents or relative in the hospital must do. I would have killed every one of the bastards with my bare hands and done so with a clear conscience when my mother was on her last legs.
I have to admit a certain satisfaction in screwing with them when they call.
Asians trying to get your credit card info are the most fun.
See how fast they hang up when you say “Xi Wo De Gongj”
If I do not who is calling I will not answer. I did that once and had someone speaking in Spanish to me, no comprende. My dad being a grouchy old fart would sometimes string them along and tell them to speak up cuz he was deaf, he really was and couldn’t hear a damn thing without his hearing aids but he liked to have fun with them and piss them off. He never fell for the so called grandson who called from jail and needed to be bailed out which was good.
I keep getting calls from some Chinese place in Los Angeles. I do not speak Chinese,
so I have no idea why they call, it is a recording,
. I just hand up when they start talking, it usually happens once a month.
“Hi!! This is Rob Ublind calling for Princess Corona Lines. And YOU’VE WON! That’s right, YOU’VE WON an all expenses-paid, 14-day cruise for two on our vacation flagship, the Princess Corona V!! And where to, you ask? Why, to beautiful SEATTLE, WASHINGTON!!! There you’ll spend fourteen days and nights cruising Seattle’s historic waterfront, eating at Seattle’s finest seafood restaurants, and enjoying the fresh air and ambience of the great Pacific Northwest. To redeem your tickets, have your credit card ready for identification and call 555-555-5555. But HURRY! If you don’t call, you’ll lose out on this fantastic trip of a lifetime where you’ll feel like you could just be quarantined forever (Ha-ha-ha)! (Not available in The People’s Republic of China or employees of Alphabet, Google or Facebook.)”
One problem is that the people behind the robocalls are fined but not jailed. The fine is a cost of doing business and it’s factored into the financial analysis of whether or not it’s a viable business. If the people were jailed, the Amercan-based stuff would stop.
I kept getting calls on an irregular basis from some asshole with a Caribbean accent (not Jamacian). Sometimes I’d string him along, sometimes I’d tell him to fuck off, sometimes I’d just hang up. One time I tried a German accent.
The last time, I pretended that he had called a radio station. (In my best radio DJ voice), “HI! You’ve called station WXYZ, would you like to say a few words to our radio audience? First, what’s your name?” (click)
Did that again when he called the second time a few minutes later. Haven’t heard back from him in at least a month. Hopefully longer.
If they’re STIRred and SHAKEN, does that mean they have to be Bond-ed?
My Petey B knows I like my unbleached elastic starfish stirred.
I had some bastard from India calling me with my own hone phone number and name showing on my caller ID.
Wound up listing my own phone number on my call blocker.
I’d like to put my size 13 EEEE up his ass.
I had some bastard from India calling me with my own home phone number and name showing on my caller ID.
Wound up listing my own phone number on my call blocker.
I’d like to put my size 13 EEEE up his ass.