Is it worth registering my number with the federal government (which presumably already has access to my information) to avoid spam calls? Does it work? Is there a downside?

  • NutWrench
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    11 hours ago

    If internet companies would fix VOIP protocol, so that spammers couldn’t spoof any phone numbers they wanted, then 95% of spam calls would disappear.

    The Do Not Call registry was the easiest thing in the world for Congress to do, because it didn’t actually do anything and it didn’t cost them anything to do. You can’t catch a spammer unless you can identify them. And you can’t do that with a spoofed phone number

    • doodlebob
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      5 hours ago

      That’s what STIR/SHAKEN is about. The FCC is starting to crack down on providers that attest A when they really shouldn’t.

    • Dionysus@leminal.space
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      5 hours ago

      It’s not internet companies.

      It’s the backbones.

      CID is an arbitrary field sent over the D channel of a ISDN or T1/T3/etc.

      Nearly every phone system, be it Lucent, ATT, Cisco, etc can set the outbound caller ID to anything they want.

      The carriers accept it and transmit it. They do that so things like Hospitals can all call from the same number, or one office can call from a specific number and the hospital can change it as needed without the phone company.

      And that’s where shit falls apart cause it’s built with the assumption of good intent, like the first mainframes didn’t have logons and passwords, they just accepted anything given.

      People ruin things.

      Internet companies contribute heavily, but they are more like a flat tire on a car with a bad transmission.

      Sure, fix the tire and it’ll roll better… The car is still fucked.