by Guest » Tue Dec 02, 2014 2:18 pm
It's great news that Sonic.net is partnering with Nomorobo. Unfortunately, I've just received a swarm of 9 robocalls (from 4 unique numbers) in the past week which have defeated the blocking. All numbers have been reported through Sonic.net Tech Support. Note that I've been on the FCC's "Do Not Call List" since 2004. Based on the input I got from various supervisors and individual contributors at Sonic, I took some additional steps:
1. Yesterday I filed a complaint at the FCC website, detailing out all the circumstances and numbers.
2. This morning I called the State of California Attorney General's office [800-952-5225] where I (a) talked with an analyst about what's being done to STOP the problem, and (b) left a message on their automated system encouraging AG Harris to work with the 39 state AGs who have petitioned the FCC to address the problem via allowing changes to the blocking technology and laws which govern.
3. Next Steps: The California AG analyst underlined that fact that I'm taking all the right steps. She also responded affirmatively to my query about whether contacting Senators/Representatives, Governor, and Lt. General might also help create some focus and urgency. I also plan to look into what the EFF is doing about this issue and, if they're not working on it, seeing what must be done to escalate it now.
For the past week, in multiple calls, I've been encouraging Sonic.net to take a leadership position in transitioning from the robocalling status quo to a new chapter (10-20 years after the Internet hit the home office would seem to be enough time to wait before getting it right). When I first embarked upon this conversation, it looked to me like a fast-moving corporate stakeholders task force composed of a critical few key ISPs/companies was called for (Sonic.net, ATT, Apple, cell number providers, etc). It's clear to me that we're talking about a business strategy that represents something far beyond basic customer needs and wants; we're talking about delighting the customer with enhanced security and quality of operations, and if that's not a business differentiator then I don't know what is. We may be simply talking about putting an end to robocalling at the moment, but additional security enhancements will naturally flow from establishing that one major toehold in the battle for the Internet Wild West.
It's high time that the scamming, political campaigning, and telemarketing intrusions be put to rest. The problem does not live at the front line technical support level, and the solution does not either. This is a corporation level problem which, of course, also involves the government agencies controlling the actions of those corporations. After a week of bearing down on the subject, I find that there are already many wheels in motion, and the people/organizations who will drive the change have started to sort themselves out. I'd be thrilled to see Sonic.net *and* California among the leaders of the pack.
There's a role for customers in this as well, and I'm encouraging everyone here to elevate the conversation from the bits and bytes of number tracking (still necessary, but not at all sufficient) to a much higher level of cooperation, where something can really be done to create a set of permanent fixes and update the laws to reflect the realities of living on the Internet. The motive force will have to come from the grassroots - not from some agency on high. From reading the (hot off the press) document that's now under review at the FCC, I can see that they've gotten themselves into a set of questions that will never end. This is the state of the state - we can do a lot to bring clarity and simplicity to the endlessly stalling emergence of a solution. Technical people know the answer - we have to start talking with the people who hold the keys to the solution. Take a look at this document and you'll know why we're needed now!
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Release ... 1700A1.pdf
