Android prompts me to “Block and Report Spam” for spam phone calls, in both the Phone app for regular phone calls and the Voice app for calls through Google Voice.

There is no way to report spam in either app without blocking the number.

Spammers and scammers change their phone numbers frequently. Daily or more, in the case of sophisticated large operations. Those numbers get reassigned to innocent users, who will forever be blocked from calling me.

“Dumb” phone number blocks should only last for maybe a month or a year, not forever. And we should have “smart” blocks, that sync to phone number registration databases and expire when the number changes hands.

This is going to become an increasingly impactful problem if we keep using phone numbers as identifiers while most phone number users don’t keep the same number for decades.

  • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    This is going to become an increasingly impactful problem if we keep using phone numbers as identifiers while most phone number users don’t keep the same number for decades.

    Hahahaha, you’re about 20 years behind if you’re just now realizing this.

    And Android has had phone number blocking database apps for 15 years that I know of.

    Everyone has a phone number. Everyone would have to stop using that number as an identifier.

    How you gonna do that?