Lobbyists Win Right to Bombard Student Borrowers with Robocalls

Re:Lobbyists Win Right to Bombard Student Borrowers with Rob... by patio11 on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:54PM (#10473810)

Try nomorobo. They get you to set up simultaneous-ring with one of their numbers. For each incoming call, if it fails their reputation scoring, their system simply "picks up" immediately and plays a pre-recorded message. Your main number then doesn't receive the call (timing issues notwithstanding).

They have an interesting way of building the reputation database: in addition to receiving customer reports, they buy Twilio's "dirtiest" phone numbers, the ones getting so spammed they're unusable by other businesses. If you call ~3 dirty numbers, welcome to the dynamic block list.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Lobbyists Win Right to Bombard Student Borrowers with Rob... by tptacek on Thursday October 29, 2015 @06:35PM (#10474885)

How am I just learning about this now? This is amazing. You've been to my house several times; how did you never tell me "uh you know you don't need to be getting those robocalls you get all day"?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Lobbyists Win Right to Bombard Student Borrowers with Rob... by kevin_thibedeau on Thursday October 29, 2015 @06:55PM (#10474994)

Doesn't work with the callers who spoof your own phone number.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Lobbyists Win Right to Bombard Student Borrowers with Rob... by TazeTSchnitzel on Thursday October 29, 2015 @06:59PM (#10475020)

Here in the UK, calling your own number seems to be used exclusively for configuration stuff (voicemail etc.).

Is there any normal use for it in the states? If not, surely you should just blacklist your own number?

(I'm aware that any time you say "you should just ..." it's never that simple)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Lobbyists Win Right to Bombard Student Borrowers with Rob... by j-conn on Thursday October 29, 2015 @07:05PM (#10475055)

Very cool. Can they somehow detect / prevent malicious actors impersonating legitimate phone numbers to get them blacklisted?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Lobbyists Win Right to Bombard Student Borrowers with Rob... by patio11 on Thursday October 29, 2015 @07:16PM (#10475127)

You get an audio capcha ("This phone is protected by NoMoRobo. Press $NUMBER to prove you aren't a robot. Press $NUMBER to prove you aren't a robot. ... Goodbye.") $NUMBER is two randomly generated digits.

Presumably one can feedback loop that into the reputation score. Honestly, though, I don't think this is a terribly likely attack.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Lobbyists Win Right to Bombard Student Borrowers with Rob... by dfc on Friday October 30, 2015 @03:26AM (#10476529)

Wow, this is a free service. What is the business model? I have my suspicions but I am trying to remain positive.

[ Parent | on HN ]