Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

U.S. Senate Passes Bill to Cut Down on Robocalling

RudySnow said:
That’s about as smart of an idea as fining consumers who answer these calls. The carriers can’t stop every single call.

If the carriers get fined, who do you think will actually pay the penalties?

Oh, yeah—back to my first sentence.
Click to expand...

Your argument is devoid of any logic.

Did gas prices go up because BP, Shell, and Exxon were fined billions of dollars? No. They couldn't pass on those costs because it would make it impossible to compete. If Verizon is fined $10 billion for violating robocall laws, it can't simply jack up rates because everyone would switch to another carrier.

Not only would it be cheaper to comply (rather than "pass on costs" under your absurd theory), but protecting consumers by complying with the law would play a lot better in advertising.
[doublepost=1558650756][/doublepost]
farewelwilliams said:
then fees will be passed to customers as this problem is difficult to solve
Click to expand...

No. Easy to solve. Use your real number or the call is blocked.
 
konqerror said:
Most of these calls come from shady VOIP providers who buy minutes through layers of middlemen. Just search "short duration termination". Legit carriers impose a hefty fee if the average call length is too short; the major one we use at work requires a 1 minute average length (1 second rounding) or the fine is something like 1.5 cents per call with threats of service cancellation.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It's not in the best interest of carriers to ban these kinds of calls because it costs them money, and hence the reason why Congress passed a weak law that will not encourage or force carriers to change anything.
 
  • Like
Reactions: upnorth85
ikramerica said:
Right around april 15 I got a call every hour claiming to be from the IRS. Then two weeks later a call every hour claiming to be from the SSA and that my SSN was “suspended.” Those were robots reading words and not doing a very good job.

My wife and I both get occasional calls of a chinese recording screaming at us in chinese.

Funny thing is my Vonage number never gets these calls. Only my cell. Both are on the federal DNC register. Vonage just does a better job of blocking.
Click to expand...

EXACT same calls here. The Chinese scam has been calling me for months. The SSN one just started last week - about 3-5 times a day. And the robo-voice claims to be from the "Department of Social Security Administration". LOL. Hopefully most people realize that there is no such thing as "suspending your SSN" "because we found some suspicious activity", but I'm sure some are duped. These predators are scum!
 
  • Like
Reactions: upnorth85
BootsWalking said:
How about a law that imposes penalties on the carriers instead, to force them to fix the problem rather than waiting for their announced voluntary efforts to come to fruition.
Click to expand...

Interesting idea, but that may create a new, unintended problem which is holding a carrier liable for the actions of their subscribers. If that was the case, could you imagine and "acceptable use policy" imposed by the carriers stating how you communicate using your phone?

And the carriers in the US spend a ton on lobbying, so there's that.....
 
SharksFan22 said:
Interesting idea, but that may create a new, unintended problem which is holding a carrier liable for the actions of their subscribers. If that was the case, could you imagine and "acceptable use policy" imposed by the carriers stating how you communicate using your phone?
Click to expand...

As I said, legit carriers already have policies that require average phone call lengths to be a certain duration, or else pay a fine. The services that sell to robocallers are trivial to find. Google "short duration termination" and "dialer termination". While there are some legit uses (2-factor authentication calls), most of this traffic is spam. They often use a network of resellers and middlemen to mix their traffic in with legit calls to make it hard to trace and block.
 
az431 said:
Did gas prices go up because BP, Shell, and Exxon were fined billions of dollars? No. They couldn't pass on those costs because it would make it impossible to compete. If Verizon is fined $10 billion for violating robocall laws, it can't simply jack up rates because everyone would switch to another carrier.
Click to expand...

I would disagree somewhat here. Sure, there would be people that would move, but there's some awfully complicated pricing analysis models that big companies use and they'll get those fines back over time. Might take months or years, but we the consumers usually end up paying those fines either in terms of actual money or limited services.
 
konqerror said:
As I said, legit carriers already have policies that require average phone call lengths to be a certain duration, or else pay a fine. The carriers that sell to robocallers are trivial to find. Google "short duration termination" and "dialer termination". They often use a network of resellers and middlemen to mix their traffic in with legit calls to make it hard to trace and block.
Click to expand...

True - I agree with you that traffic isn't terribly difficult to identify. Enforcing a law (that apparently doesn't have a whole lot of teeth) is a different problem.
 
This will do nothing to stop the foreign robocallers spoofing US numbers. That needs to be stopped at the carrier level. They need to be incentivized by fines to put a stop to it together.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I get "local calls" with someone speaking Chinese at least once a day.
How many times have we seen legislation to stop some invasive practice that has no real teeth?
Until individuals start going to jail and companies that enable these calls get large fines...it is just grandstanding.
 
Even though I have the NOMOROBO service, this does NOT slow them down. Yes I get 1-2 blocked calls around every 2 days or so, but far more each day that I duly report to them. The latest scam they have is most of the calls originate from your local exchange. Even MORE insidious, I am now getting calls from... me. The caller is MY phone number. Worse yet, my phone can speak the caller... it rings and in it's robotic voice says "paulcons calling" well, except with my real name.
 
realtuner said:
Cut down? What does that mean, exactly?

Why do I get the feeling it won’t eliminate robocalls, but will simply push companies to use other methods to get around regulations?
Click to expand...

Because like the last law that was passed, the government will write themselves out of this, so they may continue to call and text you. So you are correct, it will not stop robocalls.
 
az431 said:
Charging for phone calls is not the solution. It's time to put people in prison.
Click to expand...

az431 said:
It can't be enforced. Robocallers and spammers are generally based overseas, unidentifiable, or are scumbags who could care less about civil judgments. There are no criminal penalties so no one has to worry about prison time.
Click to expand...

I agree that finding and extraditing the calling source is nearly impossible. So who exactly are we putting in prison?
 
az431 said:
Your argument is devoid of any logic.

Did gas prices go up because BP, Shell, and Exxon were fined billions of dollars? No. They couldn't pass on those costs because it would make it impossible to compete. If Verizon is fined $10 billion for violating robocall laws, it can't simply jack up rates because everyone would switch to another carrier.
Click to expand...

Your apples-to-oranges comparison here is ridiculous. No one is harmed by robocalls, just annoyed. A major environmental disaster? More than an annoyance. Bigger deal. And if you think when we go to the pump and are only paying for the price of a refined barrel of oil at the current speculative prices, you’re crazy.

az431 said:
Not only would it be cheaper to comply (rather than "pass on costs" under your absurd theory), but protecting consumers by complying with the law would play a lot better in advertising.
Click to expand...

Do you assume that these telecoms just woke up today and heard that robocalls are a big problem for their customers? What rock do you think they’ve been living under? As the article stated, carriers are already implementing procedures to slow these down. Why pre-emptively fine a company for what you perceive they will or will not do?

az431 said:
No. Easy to solve. Use your real number or the call is blocked.
Click to expand...

Wow, genius idea. Show me the software you created to just identify “real numbers,” and crisis averted. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
  • Like
Reactions: fairuz
Don't know about everywhere else, but here in NY, we are getting robo called like crazy by some Chinese group.
 
Why not implement caller name ID? That way I can properly screen my calls. Right now with AT&T I only get the number if it isn't in my contacts list. That means not answering any call not in my contacts and hope they leave a voicemail. Of course, this needs to be coupled with stringent network infrastructure that enforces sending the name of the individual or entity responsible for the calling number. That infrastructure needs to be setup to not allow spoofing.
 
RudySnow said:
That’s about as smart of an idea as fining consumers who answer these calls. The carriers can’t stop every single call.

If the carriers get fined, who do you think will actually pay the penalties?

Oh, yeah—back to my first sentence.
Click to expand...

By your logic the government should never regulate or penalize any of our already regulated industries for fear the costs would be passed on to customers. Stockholm syndrome much?
 
  • Like
Reactions: castlema and bwintx
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back