Jan 4, 2013
Disappointing news from National Public Radio:
The Federal Trade Commission will award $50,000 to an individual or small company that comes up with the best solution for blocking illegal robocalls.
Please see the entire article and interview with David Vladeck, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. http://www.wbur.org/npr/168444025/reward-offered-to-help-stop-robocalls
It is very disheartening because the FTC seems to have given up vigorous pursuit of the roboscammers, apparently because the FTC (and by extension the FCC) are overwhelmed, underfunded, and may be restricted by regulations. The FTC apparent answer is to put the onus for stopping robocalls on us, the "victims."
The NPR interview is a soft puff job. Vladeck was not challenged as to the impotence of the feds to deal with Rachel, the VoIP providers, and apparent FCC regulations connected to paying the calling telecom for providing the caller ID info (CNAM).
If you have got an idea to put a stop to the calls, read the article and apply for the $50,000 prize.
In the mean time, my best success for the wireline calls is to use a call blocking interceptor that seizes the robocall (after the number has been registered into the device). The call is answered on the first ring and dropped. After five months, these calls have dropped to a trickle.
Mobile calls are difficult to intercept because my carrier only allows 5 calls to be blocked, and registering these is a task. Others have made the suggestion to divert a robocall mobile call to no ring status on the phone or ring through to voicemail may or may not cause the mobile number to drop from the robo calling lists.
Today this number called my mobile. Left no message.