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Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by eitally on Thursday February 08, 2024 @01:31PM (#39305639)
What they should have done is enforce Caller ID identification labels for robocalls. For example, "Police Officers Benevolent Association [Robocall]".
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by paxys on Thursday February 08, 2024 @01:57PM (#39305999)
That would require upgrading literally 50-70 years worth of telecommunications infrastructure across the country, which isn't happening.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by pavon on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:37PM (#39306534)
The old Bell companies are largely already in compliance with SHAKEN/STIR. It is mostly smaller shady companies that are not, because they know their customers don't want them to comply.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by snvzz on Thursday February 08, 2024 @07:08PM (#39309600)
Time to make SHAKEN/STIR a requirement to participate in the phone network.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by IamLoading on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:18PM (#39306255)
Where is all the money going? You're saying we cant get some billions from 36 Trillion dollars? WTH
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by lenerdenator on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:51PM (#39306730)
It's privately-owned infrastructure, for the most part. And if the companies could, they'd charge you simply for the privilege of existing in the same universe as the infrastructure even if no one ever used it, and just send that money to their shareholders.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by robertlagrant on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:24PM (#39307170)
> And if the companies could, they'd charge you simply for the privilege of existing in the same universe as the infrastructure even if no one ever used it, and just send that money to their shareholders.

Of course. If I could I'd draw a salary from every employer on the planet. People be peoplin'.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by coffeebeqn on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:54PM (#39307553)
Maybe things like starlink will end up finally seeing some change. Would be a lot easier with some fiber !
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by stefan_ on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:55PM (#39306794)
It's going to the FCC, of course. If they ever solved robocalls, what would be there for them to do? Literally, this agency has been trying to solve spam calls for half a century now. They are the most incompetent people in history.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by renegade-otter on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:42PM (#39306601)
That's not the priority. The priority is tax cuts for the rich. I know it sounds snarky, but I don't see how, since I've said the actual truth (TM).
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by Aissen on Thursday February 08, 2024 @04:06PM (#39307689)
The robocalls are already using the automated software-based infrastructure, not the old copper lines with analog calls.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by standardUser on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:13PM (#39306197)
Better to abandon that technology all together (for normal phone calls). It should be used exclusively for emergency calls and similarly vital functions. Let everything else operate over cell networks and require explicit opt-ins before party A can call party B.

A man can dream.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by malfist on Thursday February 08, 2024 @04:01PM (#39307638)
Why not? Things have to eventually be replaced or upgraded.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by jjtheblunt on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:15PM (#39306219)
for landlines, do you mean?
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by bongodongobob on Thursday February 08, 2024 @05:00PM (#39308360)
No, it's not a one or the other thing. Phone calls don't work like web apps. Hell, most land lines aren't actually copper either , they're essentially VoIP. A phone call is not just a socket connection. Look up SS7 and PSTN. It's quite literally impossible to change any of this stuff, it's far too embedded.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by wnolens on Thursday February 08, 2024 @07:13PM (#39309643)
Not even sure what you're referring to. Do you think the tone from pressing buttons on your landline is still analog signaling? It is not.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by bongodongobob on Thursday February 08, 2024 @01:33PM (#39305672)
Who is "they" and how do they know which calls aren't legitimate?
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by aw49r59aw on Thursday February 08, 2024 @01:54PM (#39305963)
Yes. Completely redesigning how phones work is exactly what we need. This problem is only going to get worse.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by bongodongobob on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:21PM (#39306306)
Well, that's a multi trillion dollar project that would involve every country in the world. Will never happen.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by davchana on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:43PM (#39307422)
International calls are still expensive than national or state calls (the regular cellular ones, not the whatspap viber imo or internet ones).
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by asah on Thursday February 08, 2024 @01:57PM (#39305992)
consumers have an easier solution: they just don't answer the phone unless it's a someone they know.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by dymk on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:17PM (#39306249)
This isn't a solution. I need to accept legitimate calls from numbers who've never called me before all the time.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by coldpie on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:49PM (#39307492)
It's not a solution for you, but you're one of a shrinking group. Phone calls as a way to communicate with unknown people are on the way out, no one under 40 uses that method except under extreme duress.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by dymk on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:58PM (#39307598)
> no one under 40 uses that method except under extreme duress

You live in a tiny bubble if you honestly believe that.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by coldpie on Thursday February 08, 2024 @05:11PM (#39308493)
OK you're right. It's not an age thing, no one answers unknown calls now.

"Eight-in-ten Americans say they don’t generally answer their cellphone when an unknown number calls" https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/12/14/most-amer...

And that study is from 3 years ago, it's surely a higher percentage now than it was then.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by dymk on Thursday February 08, 2024 @05:15PM (#39308535)
20%, guess I am right

I don’t know why this is the hill you’ve chosen to die on

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by coldpie on Thursday February 08, 2024 @05:19PM (#39308577)
You stated it's not a solution. It clearly is if it works for more than 80% of people.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by dymk on Thursday February 08, 2024 @05:38PM (#39308775)
It’s not a solution if it doesn’t work for 1/5 users of a system used by millions.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by asah on Thursday February 08, 2024 @07:51PM (#39309967)
I've been on-call for decades and 24x7 caregiver and it's not an issue, even in emergencies:

1. For non-emergencies, just use social media or email, which have better anti-spam filtration.

2. For most true emergencies, "hang up and call 911" just like every doctor's office recording says.

3. For urgent non-emergencies, either accept the consequences of waiting until your can reach the person via option #1 above, or get creative. Contact friends of the person and ask if they can get ahold of them... or someone IRL near them to get their real-world attention.

4. Consider what happens if you lose or break your phone. Responsible people let a reasonable group of people know how to reach them, and the rest contact a member of that group.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by jurynulifcation on Thursday February 08, 2024 @04:45PM (#39308151)
25 year odl here, I prefer phone calls as my primary method of communication, and often place calls as my first method of contact with previously-uncontacted entities. Please check your assumptions :)
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by SirMaster on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:31PM (#39306447)
Don't accept them until they start talking.

IDK, my iPhone will show me the live transcription of the callers message without me answering it. And then if I want to speak to them, I can answer the call in the middle of the message being left and talk to them.

Sounds cool, but this concept isn't at all new. Anyone who used answering machines did exactly this. You would listen to the message being left in real-time and pick up if you actually wanted to talk to them.

If people can't be bothered to leave a message, then that's their problem.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by johnnyanmac on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:35PM (#39306510)
>If people can't be bothered to leave a message, then that's their problem.

That's easy to say when you're not looking for a new job. Or don't run a business.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by davchana on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:44PM (#39307432)
Or something like utility compam6, law enforcement, HOA somebody calling.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by dymk on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:35PM (#39306508)
> Don't accept them until they start talking.

Not professional, not an option for some calls.

> If people can't be bothered to leave a message, then that's their problem.

It's actually my problem if I miss an important call. A message is great, sure, but I still missed the call.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by SirMaster on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:56PM (#39306804)
My phone shows a live transcription of the message being left.

If I see that it's an important call, then I can pick up and answer right there mid-voicemail.

That's what I was referring to. They start talking when they leave the voicemail.

This is how we did it for a long time with home answering machines too. Except instead of reading a live transcription, you listened to their live recording, and could interrupt it and answer if you wanted to talk to them. It's not a new idea.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by dymk on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:56PM (#39307577)
That relies on people leaving a message, which not everybody does.

And not everybody has a phone that'll do this live message transcribing.

And no, everybody who decides to not leave a message isn't "not worth your time" or something.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by mrcodedude on Thursday February 08, 2024 @06:15PM (#39309119)
Then look up the missed number and call them back if you think it might be legitimate?
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by kemayo on Thursday February 08, 2024 @08:08PM (#39310102)
> Not professional, not an option for some calls.

Callers can't (well, shouldn't) expect to be able to reach you immediately by calling you. There's a lot of valid reasons to not answer your phone. You might be driving, you might be in the bathroom, you might be getting lunch in a noisy place, you might be in the middle of a different important conversation, etc.

At which point the caller needs to realize that the "professional" thing to do is leave a message if they want to be called back. (Or try calling again later.) Because there's enough junk calls that expecting people to call back every missed call that didn't leave a message is just unreasonable.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by coffeebeqn on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:56PM (#39307580)
VOIP is decades old by now anyway. I’m perfectly capable of calling across the globe with various technologies that don’t need rotary phone technology
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by ranger_danger on Thursday February 08, 2024 @01:44PM (#39305803)
cryptographic signatures are going to have to start becoming necessary for all kinds of things, like even your average JPG image, otherwise nobody can tell what is "fake" or not, court evidence will start to become useless.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by bongodongobob on Thursday February 08, 2024 @01:46PM (#39305840)
You'd have to completely redo the way telephony works. There is no way to enforce numbers or caller IDs.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by luma on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:30PM (#39306438)
STIR/SHAKEN is already required for VOIP providers and intermediate carriers. The FCC is working it's way through the system to implement this, there is in fact a way but it takes a while.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by larvaetron on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:52PM (#39306750)
> STIR/SHAKEN is already required for VOIP providers

I'm not convinced that STIR/SHAKEN even works properly. Recently, I migrated a DID from one VOIP provider to another. I set the outbound caller ID on the new provider, and it was showing up Verified with a checkmark to mobile devices before I had even submitted the port request to the old provider.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by nsporillo on Friday February 09, 2024 @12:22AM (#39311685)
Depending on your new provider, they might just see that they have a contract with you and sign the call on your behalf with B level attestation - indicating that they "know" the end user, but not that they have the right to use the number.

As long as they managed to attach the identity header to the sip invite correctly, and are not considered to be a shady actor - downstream providers such as carriers probably have no reason to label it as spam. Spam labeling is typically done via analytics, outsourced to third parties like First Orion.

Attest levels are not in themselves proper tools for spam detection. The real meat of stir shaken is the origid in the identity JWT claim which is an opaque identifier that can be traced back to a particular user/customer/network equipment.

STIR/SHAKEN being sold as the one and only solution for spam calls was a mistake as it is only one iteration in the right direction. You have a handful of RFCs and ATIS specs that the FCC told operators to implement in a phased approach, and ultimately some gaps were uncovered in practice that reduced its effectiveness.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by ranger_danger on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:13PM (#39306195)
perhaps, but the alternative is that whatever doesn't support it, just cannot be admissable as evidence anymore.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by NoMoreNicksLeft on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:36PM (#39306516)
What should be done is something else entirely. Apple and Google should offer, as part of their standard software, a personal "phone robot". When you get a new phone, you spend 15 minutes recording various phrases, and from that point on you just have the robot answer for you.

When the robot talks to these spammers and telemarketers, it will try to keep them on the phone as long as possible. A minute would be good, 10 minutes would be better. As the spammers tried to avoid this, Apple and Google could improve the robots to counter.

And, within a few months of this, at most, that industry would just be dead. It can't afford to spend a half hour on each call trying to determine if they've got a real live knucklehead who will start sending cash to Nigerian princes, or just bad software tricking operators who don't speak English as a first language. Their margins would drop, their need for more sophisticated AI to try to determine if they were talking to a real person or not would skyrocket, etc. It just wouldn't be economically viable to continue.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by pavel_lishin on Thursday February 08, 2024 @04:35PM (#39308060)
Computer time isn't that expensive; I'm relatively certain that the calls I get are either fully driven by voice recognition, or by someone in the third world or in prison, pressing buttons that activate pre-recorded statements by a script.

The former is cheap enough that yes, they would engage for 15 minutes. The latter are smart enough to understand what's going on so that they'd hang up.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by NoMoreNicksLeft on Thursday February 08, 2024 @05:54PM (#39308928)
> The former is cheap enough that yes, they would engage for 15 minutes.

No, they wouldn't. This isn't "hey, when they call some random number and talk to a grandma that will never buy their stuff/scams, is wasting 15 minutes that once a big deal for them".

It's 15 minutes on every call, or enough that they can't filter down to those who will end up sending money.

> The latter are smart enough to understand what's going on so that they'd hang up.

That's debatable. But even if they are smart enough, please describe what logic you think they're using that they can tell pre-recorded voice responses from a live person? What exactly would go on in one of those calls? Did his "oh sure, uh huh" sound a little too much like the last one?

They're not supergeniuses.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by imzadi on Thursday February 08, 2024 @02:55PM (#39306789)
Not sure why this would come from Google or Apple. You basically just described RoboKiller, which already exists.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by robertlagrant on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:25PM (#39307184)
I think they just basically described Kitboga[0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitboga_(streamer)

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by NoMoreNicksLeft on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:39PM (#39307372)
Not unless you think I was saying that we should clone the man, and chain him to every cell phone in America.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by robertlagrant on Friday February 09, 2024 @04:34PM (#39320803)
He trained an AI instead[0], which is a smarter route!

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maP2DwgdBts

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by NoMoreNicksLeft on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:03PM (#39306905)
So that it would be standard, and could tap into the "setting up my new phone".

Just looked up Robokiller...

>Robokiller is a phone app that blocks 99% of spam calls and texts with predictive analytics and audio fingerprinting.

Doesn't look like what I'm talking about at all. We don't want the calls to be blocked, we want them to linger on forever. I'm not sure why that's so difficult to understand.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by imzadi on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:25PM (#39307194)
RoboKiller has "answer bots" that do what you said. They just keep saying things like "hello? I'm sorry, I don't understand" etc.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by NoMoreNicksLeft on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:38PM (#39307359)
Sure. So, let's see what's wrong with that... it's one feature of many, and they focus on the wrong one. Not big enough to make it ubiquitous or even a standard. Can't tap into the "everyone sets this up" level of authority the other two companies have.

You seem to think I was saying that I have this neat idea for an invention, and you're rebutting with "someone already thought of that".

I was describing "this needs to be a policy, if only a soft one, and only these two gigantic companies have the sway to do that". So you've totally misread things. It didn't click for you. That happen to you much? I guess I shouldn't ask, you wouldn't know even if that were the case.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by wizzwizz4 on Thursday February 08, 2024 @06:38PM (#39309327)
https://xkcd.com/1028/

> Anyone who says that they're great at communicating but 'people are bad at listening' is confused about how communication works.

Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by NoMoreNicksLeft on Thursday February 08, 2024 @08:35PM (#39310344)
Sometimes they're bad at communicating. Other times, they're at the zoo near the chimpanzee enclosure. If HackerNews ever has an interactive crayon drawing canvas, I can try again I guess.
Re:FCC rules AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal by weaksauce on Thursday February 08, 2024 @03:49PM (#39307495)
just forward the call to lenny. https://www.reddit.com/r/itslenny/