Is it worth registering my number with the federal government (which presumably already has access to my information) to avoid spam calls? Does it work? Is there a downside?
Is it worth registering my number with the federal government (which presumably already has access to my information) to avoid spam calls? Does it work? Is there a downside?
I think political calls are basically exempt from it, anyways.
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/political-campaign-robocalls-and-robotexts-rules
“Prior consent” is basically moot if you ever donate to a y campaign, ever, because you have to provide a real phone number. Or if you sign a petition your party is running, or somehow end up having that party get your number some other legitimate way. They have no way to prove (or you to disprove) your consent.
I just treat them all as spam, and report/block accordingly.
iOS 26 gave people the built-in call screening, which has been amazing for weeding out garbage calls, at least. Text messages are a different evil, but there are apps you can use to trash text messages that contain specific words, etc.
Most companies/political callers don’t do regular manual calling anymore… They pretty much all use some sort of system to automatically dial numbers
I’m aware. Several issues there.
This is by no means am exhaustive list.
Yup, you’ve hit it on the head The worst is when they don’t handle consent withdrawal properly…
Call screening is actually one of the reasons I’ve been thinking about going back to a Pixel, I had that on my Pixel 5 and Fold.
Fortunately, the Google messages app (default for Android) does a half decent job of filtering spam texts for me. I go through the filter every couple days and just report them to my provider en masse.
What are those texting apps? I think the entire Democratic Party has sold my cellphone number to each other for fundraising and I want to not see any of it
The DNC just gives it to any Dem campaign. RNC is the same. I use SMS Filter+.