Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/15/phone-companies-get-to-block-r.html
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Hmm. “Block robocalls” yes, but
It would also allow customers to block calls coming from phone numbers that are not on their contacts list.
…seems ill-conceived. I understand the impulse, but if a hospital is trying to call me to say they have my mom there, or the cops are calling to say they have my sister at the police station, I need to receive that call. Who doesn’t need to keep that functionality open?
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I’m not used to this version of Ajit Pai, where he sounds like the FCC might do something I want.
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Yeah, this is stupid. I can already do this with my phone. All this does is add another layer of fuckery to manage while doing nothing to address actual robocalls. And putting this kind of control in the hands of some of the worst actors (Verizon and Ma Bell?) will only further screw an already screwed system.
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I suspect he is not doing you any favors. Most smart phones can filter by your contact list. What ATT, Verizon and the others want is a copy of your contact list. FCC Chair in their pocket his happy to deliver it to them.
What they should be doing is making Robe-Calling a crime, and make a high profile of catching and punishing them.
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This week has seen an uptick in robocalls from funeral insurance scumbags, really love that call at 6:30 AM…
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How do you do this on your phone? Because the robocalls I get are randomizing the number. I can’t block them without a third party service.
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Fun fact: phone companies have always been allowed to block robocalls. “get to block” is nonsense.
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By turning on “Do Not Disturb”, then allowing calls from your favorites list to bypass. There’s another setting somewhere that will allow this from all contacts as well, but I don’t remember where. But like I said, it does nothing to address actual robocalls while simultaneously depriving you of the device’s usefulness.
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If they’re showing up to my door in a robe, damn right I want them punished.
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Given this is coming from A Pai hole, I suspect this rule will allow carriers to auto-enroll customers in a for-charge “robocall blocker” feature that doesn’t do much.
IIRC, AT&T has a “feature” that offers to block robocalls for ~$4/month.
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I was going to fix that - but now I’m going to leave it!
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The write-up is surprisingly credulous coming from bb regarding Pai.
This move by him is a panicked attempt to protect carriers’ tasty profits in the face of impending legislation that might actually require meaningful action.
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