FTC puts a bounty on the heads of robo-telemarketers
The race against robots is on: the Federal Trade Commission is offering $50,000 cash to anyone that can come up with a way to eliminate the insidious telemarketing robocall, it announced Thursday. While it may take a sizable workload, a good kill-switch for the spammy pre-recorded messages could put an end to the annoying overtures on the phone to enter a new sweepstakes, qualify for a new credit card, or get a new energy provider.
The FTC outlawed commercial telemarketing calls years ago in September 2009, but the legislation has done little to slow the flow of the pre-recorded messages ringing through to US phones. Because robocall systems are very complex and often internationally-oriented with layers of VoIP and spoofed caller IDs, the long arm of US law struggles to bring every last robocaller to justice. Hence, it's time for some good old-fashioned ingenuity.
