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Comment by lemcoe9 | Hacker News Reader

I am glad that you "don't care" about breaking a few million phone systems across the world. Every single IT manager, however, does care. If you start having carriers wholesale-blocking calls based on their lack of STIR/SHAKEN's verifications, then you will completely disable the vast majority of IP- and POTS-based phone systems in the country, many of which were purchased/installed in the early-2000's.

You can have the "I don't care" attitude when you have one telephone number in your life. You have to care when you have a couple hundred thousand telephone numbers in your life, like I do, working for a Class 3 ITSP.

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I have to side with the GP here. The options are completely losing the telephone system because nobody trusts anything coming from it anymore, or having those pre-2000 systems upgraded. It's a no-brainier.

Yet, we seem to be committed into destroying the entire system.

It's really amazing how little trust people have in the telephone system now.

At least on personal devices/lines, everyone I've talked about it with now refuses to pick up any call from a number they don't recognize, which is really the only option when 2/3 of the calls you get daily are spam. Most just assume that if it's important, the caller will leave a message.

everyone I've talked about it with now refuses to pick up any call from a number they don't recognize

I wish this was the case where I work. My boss answers every single call that comes in to her cell phone. Sometimes 15 a day. Then everyone in the office has to listen as she tries to interrupt the sales pitch and tell them "take me off your mailing (!) list."

And she's a millennial. I thought millennials didn't use voice.

> everyone I've talked about it with now refuses to pick up any call from a number they don't recognize

This is true, and also burned me last weekend. My dog set off my alarm system and the phone identified ADT as "potential spam" so I didn't answer it. The police showed up at my house. Fixed by adding ADT to my contacts, but the distrust is real.

> If you start having carriers wholesale-blocking calls based on their lack of STIR/SHAKEN's verifications, then you will completely disable the vast majority of IP- and POTS-based phone systems in the country, many of which were purchased/installed in the early-2000's.

It's far too early for carriers to block by default, but consumers should have the choice. If I could set my phone to give a busy signal to any caller not authenticated through STIR/SHAKEN, I would in a heartbeat.

This would be great. Push back voluntarily on bad actors.

Internet-wise, we blocked pop-ups and installed adblockers when we lost trust in the platform. I see no difference in applying that to telephony. Amputate or lose the patient.

Internet-wise, we blocked pop-ups and installed adblockers when we lost trust in the platform

And then pop-ups were replaced by divs, and adblockers got blocked by paywalls.

I don't think either problem has been solved yet.

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