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House, Senate announce agreement on anti-robocall bill

JacksinPA

JacksinPA

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House, Senate announce agreement on anti-robocall bill | TheHill

Key lawmakers in the House and Senate on Friday announced they have drawn up a bill to stave off the scourge of robocalls in the U.S., expressing optimism that the negotiated legislation "can be signed into law by the President."

The long-awaited anti-robocall bill, which has not been made public in its final form yet, would allow telephone carriers to block robocalls — spam calls often aimed at stealing personal information from vulnerable populations — in a "consistent and transparent" way without charging consumers any extra money, according to Friday statement from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a top member of the Senate Commerce Committee, among others.
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This legislation, if ultimately implemented by phone carriers, is sorely needed.

I have Verizon VOIP & called to complain about the number of robocalls we were getting, like fax machines & credit card interest scammers. The tech turned me on to a FREE service called NOMOROBO. It works pretty well. Once you have a number blocked, you only get one ring & the caller gets some kind of goofy message. There is a screen on which you can add new numbers & delete good numbers that have been somehow blocked. And you can't beat FREE.
 
Hope it works better than the Do Not Call List does.
 
JacksinPA said:
House, Senate announce agreement on anti-robocall bill | TheHill

Key lawmakers in the House and Senate on Friday announced they have drawn up a bill to stave off the scourge of robocalls in the U.S., expressing optimism that the negotiated legislation "can be signed into law by the President."

The long-awaited anti-robocall bill, which has not been made public in its final form yet, would allow telephone carriers to block robocalls — spam calls often aimed at stealing personal information from vulnerable populations — in a "consistent and transparent" way without charging consumers any extra money, according to Friday statement from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a top member of the Senate Commerce Committee, among others.
========================================================
This legislation, if ultimately implemented by phone carriers, is sorely needed.

I have Verizon VOIP & called to complain about the number of robocalls we were getting, like fax machines & credit card interest scammers. The tech turned me on to a FREE service called NOMOROBO. It works pretty well. Once you have a number blocked, you only get one ring & the caller gets some kind of goofy message. There is a screen on which you can add new numbers & delete good numbers that have been somehow blocked. And you can't beat FREE.
Click to expand...

I am worried about the... "which has not been made public in its final form yet"... part of the article.

Could be all kinds of exceptions made allowing for a plethora of robocalls to continue.
 
OrphanSlug said:
I am worried about the... "which has not been made public in its final form yet"... part of the article.

Could be all kinds of exceptions made allowing for a plethora of robocalls to continue.
Click to expand...

How much you wanna bet that some politicos don't have a hand in the robocall gravy train?
 
Robocalls should be fully outlawed. Unless you specifically agreed to receive recorded messages from a specific company or person, all other robocalls should be prohibited by civil and criminal law.
 
They change numbers constantly, the phone company helps them do this and you can't block fixed numbers because they will just call from another.
The ****ers even will get numbers to match your first 6 digits (area code and first 3 digits), so it "looks familiar", increasing the odds you'll answer it.

This is criminal that it wasn't stopped long ago, why do bipartisan bills take so long? Madness.
 
Mach said:
They change numbers constantly, the phone company helps them do this and you can't block fixed numbers because they will just call from another.
The ****ers even will get numbers to match your first 6 digits (area code and first 3 digits), so it "looks familiar", increasing the odds you'll answer it.

This is criminal that it wasn't stopped long ago, why do bipartisan bills take so long? Madness.
Click to expand...

The ones that can't be blocked are a) all '1s': 111-111-1111 & b) UNAVAILABLE in both the caller & number fields. The spoof using local area codes & exchanges is also very common.

The one I worry about is the one that selects your number & uses it to make robocalls. I've dealt with at least one irate older woman who told me off for calling her number.
 
JacksinPA said:
Forget that list. False hopes.
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Yeah, I'm on both Fed and state Do Not Call lists - they don't do much good, even when I report calls. I'm also on NoMoRobo - it works pretty well, although calls sometime slip through. Finally, I have Comcast for TV/phone/internet - some folks don't like it but I'm pretty happy. Anyway, it has caller ID that shows the caller's name (if available) and phone number in the corner of the TV. The same info shows on the phone LCD. It has voice mail that kicks in after 5 rings. It can be accessed from the phone but also sends me an email transcript of the message. Lastly, all incoming/outgoing/voice mail history can be accessed via the internet. With all that, I don't answer the phone unless I recognize the caller and/or number, which is almost never. I figure if it's a valid call I don't recognize, they can leave a voice mail.
 
JacksinPA said:
The ones that can't be blocked are a) all '1s': 111-111-1111 & b) UNAVAILABLE in both the caller & number fields. The spoof using local area codes & exchanges is also very common.

The one I worry about is the one that selects your number & uses it to make robocalls. I've dealt with at least one irate older woman who told me off for calling her number.
Click to expand...

It also is wise to have a phone that displays both the caller's name & number. When they leave a voice message, I write down the number & it often does not agree with the number of the display. I block both. given the number of possible phone numbers, it is likely going to be an endless task but I get enjoyment from the one ring calls that show that I've succeeded in blocking one.

I've heard of people who have nonsense scripts that they use to tie up the scam artists once you've picked up their call. Tie them up for 20-30 minutes.

People who claim they are calling about my computer issue usually have heavy foreign accents. Beware!
 
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Mach said:
They change numbers constantly, the phone company helps them do this and you can't block fixed numbers because they will just call from another.
The ****ers even will get numbers to match your first 6 digits (area code and first 3 digits), so it "looks familiar", increasing the odds you'll answer it.

This is criminal that it wasn't stopped long ago, why do bipartisan bills take so long? Madness.
Click to expand...

We get frequent (>4 times/day) calls from a number that is listed as being located in Catasaqua, PA. The frequency of these calls interested me so I did a Google search on the number that always shows up. Apparently there is a company located there that offers robocall services to multiple clients. The number never changes. Googling this number retrieves multiple complaints about this same company.

As part of the Verizon VOIP system you can program the phone/TV system to display the caller information on your TV screen, as the phone data comes in on the same fiber optic cable as the TV. This gives you advanced warning when not to pick up, especially on the ones that use your local area code & exchange. I don't know anyone locally that I need to speak to on the phone so I simply do not pick up & block later. If it's a doctor's office confirming an appointment, they usually leave a Voice mail message.
 
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JacksinPA said:
House, Senate announce agreement on anti-robocall bill | TheHill

Key lawmakers in the House and Senate on Friday announced they have drawn up a bill to stave off the scourge of robocalls in the U.S., expressing optimism that the negotiated legislation "can be signed into law by the President."

The long-awaited anti-robocall bill, which has not been made public in its final form yet, would allow telephone carriers to block robocalls — spam calls often aimed at stealing personal information from vulnerable populations — in a "consistent and transparent" way without charging consumers any extra money, according to Friday statement from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a top member of the Senate Commerce Committee, among others.
========================================================
This legislation, if ultimately implemented by phone carriers, is sorely needed.

I have Verizon VOIP & called to complain about the number of robocalls we were getting, like fax machines & credit card interest scammers. The tech turned me on to a FREE service called NOMOROBO. It works pretty well. Once you have a number blocked, you only get one ring & the caller gets some kind of goofy message. There is a screen on which you can add new numbers & delete good numbers that have been somehow blocked. And you can't beat FREE.
Click to expand...

I've decided on my own anti-robo call method. They lie and spoof their numbers to make it look like they are a local call then at the end of their robo call they say call x number. So perhaps I'll call that number after dialing *67 to hide my number and when they pick up I blast my phone with an air horn. You just know they are wearing a headset too. ****ing assholes.
 
Drawdown said:
Hope it works better than the Do Not Call List does.
Click to expand...

The do not call list was a way to allow telemarketers to call cell phones while offering an unenforceable trade off.
 
JacksinPA said:
House, Senate announce agreement on anti-robocall bill | TheHill

Key lawmakers in the House and Senate on Friday announced they have drawn up a bill to stave off the scourge of robocalls in the U.S., expressing optimism that the negotiated legislation "can be signed into law by the President."

The long-awaited anti-robocall bill, which has not been made public in its final form yet, would allow telephone carriers to block robocalls — spam calls often aimed at stealing personal information from vulnerable populations — in a "consistent and transparent" way without charging consumers any extra money, according to Friday statement from House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a top member of the Senate Commerce Committee, among others.
========================================================
This legislation, if ultimately implemented by phone carriers, is sorely needed.

I have Verizon VOIP & called to complain about the number of robocalls we were getting, like fax machines & credit card interest scammers. The tech turned me on to a FREE service called NOMOROBO. It works pretty well. Once you have a number blocked, you only get one ring & the caller gets some kind of goofy message. There is a screen on which you can add new numbers & delete good numbers that have been somehow blocked. And you can't beat FREE.
Click to expand...

Robo-calls are really annoying, they take your time of day.

So they ring twenty people and the first to answer gets the prize.

What a bunch of dip-****s.

Not you Congress, hurrah for you, go get something done, repeal Trump tax cuts.
 
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