The worst phone spam is already illegal in the US. The problem is, in the current system, it's impossible to figure out who's doing it. That's one of the things STIR/SHAKEN is supposed to fix.
Sometimes I have the feeling that people in the US just accept a lot of what happens in their nation as unchangeable in a quite fatalistic way. Problems that are literally solved in nearly every other nation are frequently painted as unsolvable. Does this have to do with the role of the state?
Public services (including law enforcement) are starved for resources by conservative (small government) politicians who can then say "see, government doesn't work, why should they get all this money" and proceed to reduce funding further.
This leads to the populace accepting that "government doesn't work" and that "taxes are too high."
This cycle has been going on for about 40 years now.
It appears it may be ending with the rise of "leftist" politicians like Bernie Sanders gaining some traction.
It also leads to terrible things like civil asset forfeiture which literally turns police officers into highway bandits. (But it's ok, they only steal from the bad guys).
Is the high speed train done yet?
California has been extremely budget constrained ever since the Prop 13 passed in 1978. They've been fighting against that ever since. Your very words shout this ingrained bias. "wasteful spending" and "government overreach"... I think you mean "provide services" and "regulation."
I lived a great deal of my life in California and now live in Germany. The difference in people's relationship with the government and taxes is palpable.
> Is the high speed train done yet?
It's my understanding the project was cancelled.
For instance, the telecom companies and the call center companies both have powerful lobbies. They are in favor of the end customers bearing the burden of unwanted calls rather than cutting their revenues.
It's really not. Not for the operator / law enforcement anyway. 1. Ask operator where that call came from. 2. If it's another operator, go back to 1. 3. You got the end user.
They already have to have accounting/audit for billing purposes anyway.
No, the problem is who is responsible for paying the fines. If the terminating carrier were responsible for paying robocall fines, this problem would be solved overnight.
But for some reason, the American people can't stomach this solution because we have a obsession with perfection in justice. The counter argument is, "The carrier isn't the one who is making the robocalls!" My POV is, that doesn't matter.
Unless carriers are obliged to participate in creating a network that supports compliance, law enforcement will always hit a brick wall when attempting to enforce existing laws. Carriers have been given _years_ to solve this problem, and in 2019 we're pitched STIR/SHAKEN... Seriously?
Make the problem more expensive than complacency and it will get solved.
Carriers don't want to fix the issue because they make money on it. More calls increases revenue. They also started selling services to block the robocalls like ATT Call Protect.