Ask HN: Why there's no crowdsourced phone number blocklist?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31408435

by electricant • 4 years ago

2 9 4 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Lately I've been receiving a lot of spam phone calls. Being an engineer I started thinking about how to solve the problem and avoid wasting time and/or being scammed.

I thought there ought to exist a list of annoying phone numbers like those that have been created for malicious/advertising domains but I could not find any.

Why is it so that nobody thought of it? Am I missing something important here?

latexr• 4 years ago

Quite the contrary, such lists are a dime a dozen. Search the web for the phone number—not for a list—and you should get several hits from different websites.

electricant2• 4 years ago

I was thinking more of a blocklist to be applied using the official android API for blocking numbers (https://source.android.com/devices/tech/connect/block-number...).

That's why searching for a number directly won't work.

mikro2nd• 4 years ago

Too open to abuse and being gamed for nefarious purposes, both of which result in a blocklist that's effectively useless.

dossy3• 4 years ago

this.

troydavis• 4 years ago

Many or most robocall caller IDs are spoofed, so a block entry has a short timespan - a few hours to a few days. That’s why many people use apps. Check out AT&T’s free CallProtect app or your mobile carrier’s equivalent.

dossy3• 4 years ago

Any list that has enough accuracy to be useful is valuable, and isn't going to be available for free.

Perhaps you've heard of https://www.nomorobo.com/ ?

electricant2• 4 years ago

Thanks for the input I'll check it out.

What about the URL blocklists all available for free then? The are indeed very valuable aren't they? Why in your opinion aren't they available behind a paywall?

dossy3• 4 years ago

If you know of a quality URL blocklist that's free, please share that with HN!

All of the ones that are of sufficiently high quality that they're worth using (new URLs reported quickly enough to block active senders in progress, not filled with false positives, etc.) are all paid subscription services.

EddieDante• 4 years ago

I don't think a blocklist is the solution. I think the solution is to block all incoming comms by default, and require people to make exceptions on a case-by-case basis. The dark forest is for everybody.

Ask HN: Why there's no crowdsourced phone number blocklist?

Related Stories