A month ago, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai ordered phone companies to implement anti-robocall technologies or face regulatory action. Most carriers have responded by implementing STIR and SHAKEN, protocols which use digital certificates to verify that that the calling number is accurate and not “neighbor spoofing.” Here’s some news about carrier progress, as well an interesting story of how one robocalling kingpin was ultimately tracked down.
- AT&T and Comcast claim “anti-robocalling milestone” with new Caller ID tech [Ars Technica] “Caller ID authentication could ultimately help improve robocall-blocking systems, but the AT&T/Comcast announcement didn’t actually promise new blocking capabilities. Caller ID authentication will let phone customers know when a call is coming from a verified number, however.”
- Verizon launches free service for identifying and blocking spam calls [The Verge] “A free layer of defense against spam is something that Verizon’s millions of customers have lacked until now, despite T-Mobile and other carriers already offering it. Until now, Call Filter was only available for an extra charge.”
- FTC smacks down robocallers, but the penalties don’t match their heinous crimes [TechCrunch] “Although the cases resulted in judgments totaling some 24 million dollars, the actual amount the scammers will end up paying will end up closer to $3-4 million.”
- On the Trail of the Robocall King [Wired] “An investigator set out to discover the source of one scammy robocall. Turns out, his target made them by the millions.”
From the Ohio Web Library:
- Blanco, Octavio. “Mad About Robocalls?” Consumer Reports, vol. 84, no. 5, May 2019, p. 22.
- Hammond, Brian. “Caller ID Authentication Proposal Draws Widespread Support.” Telecommunications Reports, vol. 83, no. 17, Sept. 2017, pp. 11–13.
- “Lawmakers Consider Holding Robocall Witness in Contempt.” Telecommunications Reports, vol. 84, no. 9, Apr. 2018, pp. 4–7.
