Anti-robocalls bill

[berry]

I don't know if it's my or service provider but for a couple months when I receive a call there's a message on the screen "This may be a spam caller, should I screen the call?" If I click "yes" a computer says to the caller, I don't hear this but see the text, "The person you are calling is screening calls, whose calling and what is it about?" Outside of one call from my pharmacy not one has done anything but end the call. Then my phone asks if I wish to block that number in the future and I click yes. I can't prove it but I think my interruptions have decreased. If not - at least I feel better blocking numbers.

[P89DC]

We need to pass this bill for the children.
When the Founders wrote the First Amendment they couldn't have known phones were going to be invented. They didn't even have the Pony Express!
No citizen needs these phone systems that allow robo calls, only the government should be allowed to have them!
Big Phone is forcing these systems into the marketplace against the wishes of the average American, look at my poll!

[RFGuy]

Only comment I want to make on this thread is the problem is NOT just robocallers. There has been a breakdown in recent years of what is or isn't acceptable for social behavior. I am inundated with calls that purport to be for xyz charity organization. I have no way of knowing if they are who they say they are. Even if they are, I might choose not to give because I have my own preferred charities that I like to give to. The problem is that requesting to be taken off of their phone lists does nothing. They continue to call and call, even though I manually block their number every time on my phone system. Here in AZ, one of the more annoying charity calls that I continue to get is from the AZ fraternal order of police and fire (or something like that name). It doesn't appear to be a robocaller because the call is connected immediately to a live person. The voice is the same every time. I block their number and I continue to get the same call from this same person (identical voice) over and over again. IF it was a real charity, then why do they continue to spoof their phone number to my caller ID causing call block to not work? Why does this exact same person continue to call me when I ask multiple times to be removed from their phone list? Bottomline is I don't trust anyone over the phone to give them money. I do donate to charities, but only the ones that I choose. Many of these organizations that keep calling me don't appear to be using robocaller technology, but refuse to remove callers from their phone lists - this equates to harassment in my book. Only solution that I have found is NEVER answering my phone.

[davebodner]

My working practice is to consider any phone calls from "charities" to be bogus. And, even if they're real, it might still be shaky at best. https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regiona ... ObOiMRSPI/

The legislation just passed the Senate, and now it goes to the President's desk. Maybe it'll have a positive effect in the future.

[jsburger]

Only comment I want to make on this thread is the problem is NOT just robocallers. There has been a breakdown in recent years of what is or isn't acceptable for social behavior. I am inundated with calls that purport to be for xyz charity organization. I have no way of knowing if they are who they say they are. Even if they are, I might choose not to give because I have my own preferred charities that I like to give to. The problem is that requesting to be taken off of their phone lists does nothing. They continue to call and call, even though I manually block their number every time on my phone system. Here in AZ, one of the more annoying charity calls that I continue to get is from the AZ fraternal order of police and fire (or something like that name). It doesn't appear to be a robocaller because the call is connected immediately to a live person. The voice is the same every time. I block their number and I continue to get the same call from this same person (identical voice) over and over again. IF it was a real charity, then why do they continue to spoof their phone number to my caller ID causing call block to not work? Why does this exact same person continue to call me when I ask multiple times to be removed from their phone list? Bottomline is I don't trust anyone over the phone to give them money. I do donate to charities, but only the ones that I choose. Many of these organizations that keep calling me don't appear to be using robocaller technology, but refuse to remove callers from their phone lists - this equates to harassment in my book. Only solution that I have found is NEVER answering my phone.

We don't have a house phone and haven't for 8 or 9 years. I just don't answer my cell phone unless the number is in my contacts list. If it is my BT ear piece tells me the name of the caller. All others go unanswered. If it is someone important they can leave a voice mail and do. Legitimate callers will leave a message if they really want to talk to you. I don't get that many spam calls, less than one a day. My wife gets more than I do and right or wrong I attribute it to the fact she tends to answer some of the unknown calls.

[garys]

Robocalls are an annoyance, but we have bigger problems. You can hang up on any Robocall and it goes away.
On the other hand, there is little you can do to protect your privacy on a phone or tablet. They are attempting to listen to you and watch you at all times.
This article tells how you can "supposedly" turn off some of this spying, but does it really help? You will never know.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/201 ... 083899001/
The article failed to inform users of the #1 best way to prevent spying on phones or tablets. Simply put a piece of black electrical tape over each camera and microphone. This should stop spying on a tablet, but it won't work on a phone. You can cover the camera on a phone, but you need the mic to have a functional phone. A secure tablet doesn't need a camera or phone.