“The war against robocalls is just starting to heat up,” Christian de Looper reports for Digital Trends. “If you’re like me, you probably get multiple robocalls every single day, with seemingly no way to block them from getting through. That, however, could soon change.”
“The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed new legislation that would make it legal for carriers to block robocalls by default,” de Looper reports. “In fact, the legislation may even require carriers to block robocalls.”
“Specifically, the FCC is essentially giving carriers the permission to deploy new tech that would target robocalls that hijack in-service numbers. The likes of Comcast, T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T are all working on developing this new tech, but according to the FCC, they may have stopped short of actually deploying it because they weren’t sure of the legal implications,” de Looper reports. “Robocalls aren’t going to disappear right away. For starters, the FCC first has to consider its proposal at a June 6 meeting, and even if it’s approved, it may not go into effect right away.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s a scourge. If you’ve found a particularly good solution or app for blocking robocalls, please let us know below!
SEE ALSO:
Verizon’s spam and robocalling features to be offered free to all Verizon Customers – January 18, 2019
Why robocalls have taken over your phone – November 7, 2018
How to deal with robocalls on your iPhone – July 23, 2018
Knowing Ajit Pai, I’m really worried he will let the carriers CHARGE us for the privilege of not letting spam calls come through. Think about the negative incentives that creates when considering efforts to shut down the sources of spam calls. :-/
I will switch to whatever carrier effectively blocks robocalls.
I’m tempted to get a 900 number so that anyone who calls me has to pay a fee. I’ll keep the fee quite reasonable…for humans, but a robot who fails to follow the directions will get soaked … and I will insist that the telecoms pay me for each robocall. If they lose money, they’ll be motivated to figure out how to stop them.