Your Phone Number Is Going To Get a Reputation Score 136
Jah-Wren Ryel writes "Yes, there's yet another company out there with an inscrutable system making decisions about you that will affect the kinds of services you're offered. Based out of L.A.'s 'Silicon Beach,' Telesign helps companies verify that a mobile number belongs to a user (sending those oh-so-familiar 'verify that you received this code' texts) and takes care of the mobile part of two-factor authenticating or password changes. Among their over 300 clients are nine of the ten largest websites. Now Telesign wants to leverage the data — and billions of phone numbers — it deals with daily to provide a new service: a PhoneID Score, a reputation-based score for every number in the world that looks at the metadata Telesign has on those numbers to weed out the burner phones from the high-quality ones."
Both ways? (Score:5, Interesting)
Will it work the other way too? To weed out the tele-sales numbers from the people who's calls you do want to receive?
Oh my. (Score:5, Interesting)
So additionally to mailinator.com we will need a phoninator.com if this catches on.
A couple of hundred numbers where you'd add your own random Number, then read the SMS and delete it immediately.
Re:So the telemarketers know who's worth harrassin (Score:5, Interesting)
...to weed out the burner phones from the high-quality ones.
What do you want to bet those "high quality" numbers quickly become a target for telemarketers to plunder? :p
I came to say this. How is this not obvious? Or is that the actual reasoning behind the list?
I think that this should be done in a fashion similar to how Google Chrome checks if addresses are malware. When your phone rings, md5 the phone number and send it off to be checked against a blacklist of known telemarketers. If it's not on the list and the call is marketing, then add it. Maybe I'll make an app for that.
Re:Both ways? (Score:5, Interesting)
That was my first thought, then I realised that if this database listed my number as ''a grouchy bugger who is just rude to unsolicited 'phone calls and does not buy things'' then I will get what I want: not be be bothered by span 'phone calls.
Re:not really unique (Score:4, Interesting)
while phone number is unique at any given moment, it doesnt necessarily mean it stays with same person. Most providers sell the used numbers some time after they got inactive. Good luck to the new buyer of 1000 ranked number :)
When I moved to the US, I bought a T-Mobile SIM. A month later, I started receiving robo calls from a debt collector. After about 10 of those calls I finally gave in and called them back on their 800 number and they gave me the name of some guy they were looking for. Probably the previous owner of the number...
oh, well... whitelist time (Score:5, Interesting)
I have avoided making a whitelist so far, on the theory that every now and then someone (maybe even a friend! :-) ) might call me from a different number, and I'd hate to block legit calls, but if the mere fact that I've had the same number for 20 years and occasionally call retailers from said number means I'm highly rated & thus a robocall target, it'll be time to block 'em all. :-) )
(wow, that was a Faulknerian sentence
Re:So the telemarketers know who's worth harrassin (Score:5, Interesting)
There is a code you used to be able to play as the call was being answered. This code either signified the call was incorrect or something along the lines of an automated computer answering instead of a human. I forget the name of the device but my brother installed one and all the telemarketing calls think it's a bust call and disconnect the call. I asked him why he kept getting crank calls and he explained how it worked and why when I answered his phone, no one was on the other end but this was years ago (2000 or so).
I forget the name of the device he had but it would likely be quicker to just code something that did that and have it ask the person for a name or to push a number to have the call completed. If it got replied to, it wouldn't be most telemarketers. On the other hand, I never sign up for crap and don't have too many telemarketing calls. When I do, I demand they "take me off their list and any lists they have me associated with". They have to do so else face a fine each time they contact you after the request (document when this happens and with who they claim to be representing along with a number to report it). Most areas will give you a portion of the fines if it goes that far too (you may have to sue the company itself but its easily done). Even if your area doesn't allow the fines, telling them to take you off the list does two things, it first severs any existing permission like previous business and so on that could be used to get around do not call lists, and second, it establishes that you certainly will not purchase anything or donate anything to them and by removing you from the list or placing your number in their internal do not call list, it will be doing them a favor in conserving resources for more productive calls. So at minimum, that should get you out of some of the calls. On average, I get less then 2 telemarketing calls every month. Sometimes I go several months without any. And when the pissed off telemarketing drone start cussing you out, make a record of that and report it to the FCC or whatever regulating authority your area has.
Can you say Meta-data? (Score:5, Interesting)
Where is the absolute outrage about the harvesting of meta-data which was aimed at the NSA?
Here's a company doing it for profit, willing to sell access to the highest bidder (or just for a flat rate), whereas when the NSA does it for national security reasons, it's like they kill a puppy every time they save to disc. If you're really worried about undue influence of political structures, this is far more damning and easier to access/leverage than a top secret database.
You all should be lighting the torches and sharpening the pitchforks, not bitching about telemarketer strategies.
Re:Both ways? (Score:5, Interesting)
I find the best thing to do is press 1 to speak to an operator, then when they answer say "oh, sorry, I'm interested but can you hang on just a sec, my pot is boiling over..." Then they get put on hold, where the "music" is just a generic household background sounds track I downloaded from somewhere. Sometimes they hang on for 10 minutes before giving up.