[ExI] $50K Prize if You Find Way to Block Robocalls

[Max More]

I would throw in a bit extra for that! Use technology to block annoying
technology.

--Max



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$50K Prize if You Find Way to Block Robocalls
By Jennifer C. Kerr, Associated Press

Those annoying prerecorded phone pitches known as robocalls aren't just
getting on the nerves of millions of consumers: The government is fed up
too, and it's turning to the public for help, offering a cash reward for
the best way to stop the unwanted sales calls.

The Federal Trade Commission, which oversees the government's do not call
list is offering a $50,000 prize for the best technical solution to block
illegal commercial robocalls.

The head of the commission's consumer protection bureau, David Vladeck,
says the FTC "is attacking illegal robocalls on all fronts, and one of the
things that we can do as a government agency is to tap into the genius and
technical expertise among the public."

Besides the money, Vladeck predicted the winner of the challenge would
become a "national hero," given the frustration consumers feel about
bothersome calls at home or on their cellphones.

The FTC logs tens of thousands of robocall complaints each month. In the
past year alone, there were more than two million complaints from people
who didn't want to be bothered by automated calls. All those complaints
raise questions about the effectiveness of the do not call list, which has
been popular with consumers. They've put more than 217 million phone
numbers on the registry since it was created in 2003.

The telemarketing industry says robocalls aren't the preferred method of
reaching consumers. Such calls are illegal unless a consumer has given a
company written permission to make them. But federal regulators have seen a
proliferation in illegal calls, and they say the source is often people
looking to scam consumers out of money.

With an autodialer, millions of calls can be blasted out in a matter of
hours, bombarding people in a struggling economy with promises of debt
assistance and cheap loans. Even if a consumer does not have a phone number
on the do not call list, robocalls are illegal. A 2009 rule specifically
banned this type of phone sales pitch without written permission.

Political robocalls and automated calls from charities, or informational
robocalls, such as an airline calling about a flight delay, are exempt from
the ban. But those exemptions are being abused too, with consumers
complaining of getting calls that begin as a legitimate call, say from a
charity or survey, but then eventually switch to an illegal telemarketing
pitch.

Not only are the calls cheap, they are hard to trace. Fraudsters use
caller-ID spoofing so that when a person tries to call back the robocaller,
they get a disconnected number or something other than the source of the
original call.

The FTC's cash prize announcement came at the end of a summit the FTC held
in Washington on robocalls with industry leaders, top federal regulators
and technology experts.

The "robocall challenge" opened to the public on October 25 and will close
January 17, 2013. The winner will be announced in April. The money will be
awarded to the person, team or small company (it must have fewer than 10
employees) that develops the best robocall-blocking technology. The FTC
says a successful entry must work, be easy to use, and be easy to implement
and operate in today's marketplace.

It's not the first time the government has looked for outside help with a
thorny problem.

The Pentagon's research agency, known as DARPA, is offering a $2 million
prize to anyone who can develop technologies that dramatically advance the
state-of-the-art in robotics. With the military increasingly called upon to
support disaster-recovery missions, more sophisticated robots are needed to
defuse explosives or clean up nuclear waste. The contest began this month,
and a winner will be selected at the end of 2014.

More information on the FTC's robocall challenge can be found on the
commission's Web site at www.ftc.gov Anyone submitting a solution would
retain intellectual property rights to the idea. The agency says it will
have the right to feature the solution's name, text description and images
on its Web site for the challenge.
*Associated Press writer Richard Lardner contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press*



-- 
Max More, PhD
Strategic Philosopher
Co-editor, *The Transhumanist Reader*
President & CEO, Alcor Life Extension Foundation
7895 E. Acoma Dr # 110
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
480/905-1906 ext 113
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