AT&T and T-Mobile teaming up to verify phone numbers
Spam calls are horribly annoying, especially since their frequency has been ramping up as of late. But the worst part is that you can’t block them. Most spammers spoof their numbers so it looks like the call is coming from a real phone number. Have you ever gotten a call from yourself? Lots of us have, and that’s number spoofing.
Carriers have long done little about it, but we’re finally starting to see some effort from them. Major carriers are now offering spam protection, like AT&T Call Protect, for free to their users. But AT&T and T-Mobile are taking it a step further.
The two carriers have teamed up to cross verify phone numbers across both of their systems. So if it’s coming from an AT&T or T-Mobile number but that number isn’t actually calling anyone, you’ll be notified that it is indeed spam. This is based on the FCC’s SHAKEN/STIR protocol, which stands for Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs/Secure Telephony Identity Revisited and tickles us pink. You can learn more about the tech here.
This is an awesome way to help fight spam, though it surely won’t get rid of it. We hope that Sprint and Verizon will hop on this bandwagon and join in on verifying phone numbers. In the meantime, this system is now rolling out to AT&T and T-Mobile users.
Via: Engadget