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Comment by kbart | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure about stock Android, but on Cyanogenmod you can block calls from unknown numbers (not present on your contact list) or even block using wildcards. Extremely useful feature for my spam phone.

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What if a legitimate person, such as a friend, gets your number from someone else? What if you use that number for business (e.g. you're a freelancer), and you want to be able to receive calls from customers?

There's basically about a thousand scenarios where "block calls from unknown numbers" feature wouldn't work. I call it the "nuclear option" and just with nukes, the collateral damage just isn't worth it.

While immediately blocking all unknown numbers may well be excessive, I'd like a feature where all known good numbers (my "white list") go straight through, all known bad numbers (my "black list") don't even cause the phone to ring, and all other numbers go straight to voicemail. They'd be easy to review at my leisure for addition to my white or black list and the phone spammers would never again interrupt the peaceful enjoyment of my dinner.

I don't imply that this feature solves all the problems, but I know plenty of people (mostly attractive girls), that won't answer to unknown numbers on their personal phone anyway. Furthermore, there's log of blocked calls you can always check for repeated attemps and call back, or your hypothetical friend can send you sms to present himself.

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