Yeah, rather than just implementing anti-spoofing technology, let's give the government even more of our private data that won't be used against us ever
this post was submitted on 11 May 2026
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Customers would, according to the proposed rules, have to present a government ID, a physical address, a full legal name, and an existing phone number.
For a country that doesn't like/want to provide government IDs at no cost, the US sure does like to require them.
Also, gotta have a phone (number) to get a phone. Nice closed-loop system you're proposing there.
It's a feature, not a bug.
Fucking idiots!! What about all the VoIP phone apps? What about number spoofing apps?
It's illegal and happens anyway right now, so how would this actually stop any of them from happening? You know what would probably REALLY actually help?! Stop these fucking companies from buying and selling consumer data like commodities and there amount of phone calls would likely drop. No access to numbers means no way to know what number is active. It'd be a huge waste of time and deter these bad actors probably better than what's in place now.
For anyone who wants relief: start by switching to a private messaging so like Signal and get your friends/family to switch. Get a new phone number and ONLY share with those who needed it for emergencies. Get a "burner" app # from Burner, Hushed (or hell, even Google voice with a junk account if you must) etc to use for banks, utilities, job applications, etc. Forward those calls through the app to your main number if preferred for calls it send them straight to voicemail.
You can also look into getting a private SIM service from Calyx https://calyx.org/membership/internet if you really don't want carriers tracking and selling your data, too.
I have a referral link, too, for a free month. https://members.calyx.org/r/iarby
You know what would probably REALLY actually help?!
Requiring the phone companies to authenticate the incoming calls. They know perfectly well which numbers should be coming in from where.
Getting a "new" phone number might be a way to disconnect you from that number if you keep it on the down low, but there's a high probability your gonna get someones old number that died or lost it and has LOTS of people/companies that wanna contact this number.
When my son got a phone (and number), the previous owner didn't tell anyone, not her pharmacy, not her friends and family. It took a long time to get all that BS behind us.
Curse you "Darla"!
2.5 years later my work phone is still getting contacted for the previous owner. Last text was last week and was a tech support call for a blue screen reboot loop, I answered that I saw the issue, windows. so I suggested linux or contacting their actual support
Get a new phone number and ONLY share with those who needed it for emergencies.
Not a bad advice, but depending on where you are that might not do anything. I bought a new SIM recently and it was getting spam calls before I even added a single contact. Slapped SpamBlocker from F-Droid on it immediately.
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