I read something about the AG of Missouri demanding voice service providers stop transmitting unlawful robocalls through their networks. He said, “We are putting telecom companies on notice – if you help criminals reach our citizens, we will take action.” While I appreciate the effort, those suckers adapt quickly… and if that’s not bad enough, there are other roadblocks that stand in the way.
We’re familiar with ongoing battles around here…
Carriers face legal limits too. Blocking legitimate calls risks lawsuits, so carriers must balance caution with action. There are tools — like call-blocking algorithms, STIR/SHAKEN protocols (used by AT&T and Verizon) — that can reduce the number of robocalls, but they can’t fully stop them. The FCC reported 4.8 billion robocalls in the U.S. in January 2025 alone.
Connectivity has always been a problem, right?
When I was a kid, our biggest phone challenge was that our neighbor yacked too much on our party line. Every single time we picked up the phone to make a call (probably me calling Nanny and Pap-pa to come get me), it was the same voice. Of course, we weren’t allowed to say anything to the talkative person. Mom wouldn’t have allowed her kids to be disrespectful.
On our party line, we simply picked up the phone every minute or so — hoping the blathering woman would think an adult needed the phone. To avoid sales calls and trickery scammers now, I silence all unknown callers and figure if it’s important, the person calling me will leave a voice message. What do you do to avoid scammers pestering you through your mobile phone?
Now you know: The Murderer Susan Adkins of the Manson family married twice during her imprisonment. Both men were admirers she met through them writing her. The first falsely claimed to be a millionaire and the second was a Harvard law graduate who represented her at her parole hearings.