Hate Robocalls? The Government is paying for a solution to kill them

[drwex]

No, I'm not making this up. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is going to hold an open contest for people who think they can engineer a solution to (illegal) robocalls.

http://robocall.challenge.gov/

This is a 50K winner-take-all contest; runners up get mentions but no cash prize. 50% of the scoring is based on producing a solution that actually works, as opposed to people just writing theory papers.

This is so wholly unlike the government that I'm sort of looking around for Allen Funt to pop out from behind a bush.

Comments

[wotw]

My solution is capital punishment for robocallers. Where do I claim my prize?

[dcltdw]

Dammit, got beaten to the punch. Bullet. Something.

[drwex]

*shrug* Feel free to submit it.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

Crowdsourcing law enforcement? Rock on!

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

I've got the solution: Have the FTC follow up on the complaints filed through their online system.

I have over half a dozen phone numbers blocked on my cell phone now, for the same company. And I have filed complaints with the FTC for each phone number. The company gets a new number, and does it again - why? because there has been no meaningful enforcement.

My solution is simple, have the FTC do the f'ing job it said it was going to do in the first place regarding these things.

[halleyscomet.livejournal.com]

But that would make sense, and not involve a magical technical solution! It would be REAL WORK instead of throwing up a contest web site to improve their image.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my feelings about the sincerity of their attempts rank with my feelings about TSA's Blogger Bob.

[c1.livejournal.com]

No, this makes less sense.
If you can make a problem go away for $50k +cost of implementation, and implementation is marginal in cost, that trumps by a few million the cost of supporting enforcement officers and litigation.
Going the traditional way is all very well and good, but if you get a tea party congress to hold up the funding of government in order to die on their own principles, enforcement of anything is going nowhere.
Far better to create a technical solution.

I say the best solution will be a huge red button kept by the phone that will deliver a 50,000 volt shock to the robocallers.