FCC aggressively moves to block spam calls
zdnet.com
zdnet.com
Sometimes, I think we look to history for a lesson. Back in the olden days, it used to cost 5 cents to make a call. There were no spam calls back then of course. But if we were to bring that back, but instead of the 5 cents going to the carrier, what if it went to the called party ? Then if a friend calls me and leaves a message, their account is debited 5 cents and mine is credited 5 cents. Then if I call them back, the reverse occurs and it cancels out basically. For most of us, over time, it costs nothing. But it would effectively put robocallers out of business, they are playing the odds and have to make millions of calls a day. And, if they did keep calling, well, great. I answer and hang up, thanks for the nickel. hehe.
This will cut down on spam calls considerably. Right now callers spoof their phone number each phone call. Like this:
Call 1: 555-1212
Call 2: 555-1213
Call 3: 555-1214
Under the new system adding the spam number to a blacklist will actually result in those calls being blocked as they will change far less frequently. It's not perfect but it will largely accomplish what you say here, as callers will have to buy new sim cards and swap them out in order to avoid blocklists.
So, sure this might slow down poor international spammers from some Randomistan/randomnesia but it's not going to slow down commercial/election spam and you as a phone subscriber now have very little legal recourse to combat domestic spammers.
The one feature that would make my phone usable again is to have a simple option to only ring for numbers that are in my contacts - otherwise go straight to voicemail. I really, really want that. Why shouldn't I be able to decide who gets to interrupt me based on if I know them or not?
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207099
> With iOS 13 and later, you can turn on Silence Unknown Callers to avoid getting calls from people you don’t know. This blocks phone numbers that you've never been in contact with and don’t have saved in your contacts list. If you’ve previously texted with someone using their phone number or if a person has shared their phone number with you in an email, a phone call from that number will go through.
I'm under the impression that it's also possible to replace the dialer/call app with one that can detect "probable spam", and at least one such replacement can likely do custom ringtones or disable ringing for such spam.