back to article Blockchain couldn't stop TXT spam in India, regulator now trying AI

India's Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) has announced a fresh crackdown on TXT spam – this time using artificial intelligence, after a previous blockchain-powered effort delivered mixed results. The TRAI's approach to managing spam – or Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) as it prefers to describe it – saw the …

  1. that one in the corner Silver badge

    plenty of unregistered telemarketers haven't signed up for the regulator's app

    Good Heavens, who could possibly have foreseen *that* outcome? You would think these people care not one jot for the law!

    Rapscallions[1] indeed.

    > implementation of UCC detect system

    Actually trying to detect the spam? Sounds like something they should have been attempting sooner.

    On the other hand, using "ML(Machine Language)" - good for them, they should be able to make it run fast without all those silly HLL abstractions; but what will it do for their delivery dates?

    [1] sounding properly like El Reg there, house point all around.

    1. Lil Endian

      Rapscallions!

      That's a kudos from me too :)

      I was at my mum's house when the phone rang. I heard her say "Yes, that sounds good. But I don't deal with that can I pass you to my PA?"

      When I spoke to the lovely fellow rapscallion[1], I suspected he was out of town, maybe even a +91er (shocker!). I was very eager to have him help with the virus problem that he'd detected. Sadly, I explained, we couldn't do business with non-UK orgs. Obligingly, he gave a London address. Thank you, now you're close enough! Explaining that under the Telecommunications Act it was an illegal call, my fun and games ended promptly. Aw!

      [1] Word of the day!

  2. that one in the corner Silver badge

    What about spam leaving India?

    Any chance that we'll benefit from this, perhaps by reducing the number of messages from Microsoft Support about the virus they just found on my PC?

  3. Rikki Tikki

    "Plenty of spam TXTs and calls also originate in India – or appear to do so – and pop up outside the nation as a contact from someone with a +91 prefix on their phone number."

    Mostly, now, they display what appears to be a legitimate Australian mobile number - so I no longer answer calls that aren't in my contacts (if it is genuine, they will leave a message).

  4. DS999 Silver badge
    Facepalm

    How in the world was a blockchain stopping spam?

    Someone really got sold a bill of goods by salesmen who knew the right buzzwords!

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge

      Re: How in the world was a blockchain stopping spam?

      Like a database, only slower, more expensive and less reliable.

    2. ThatOne Silver badge

      Re: How in the world was a blockchain stopping spam?

      > Someone really got sold a bill of goods by salesmen who knew the right buzzwords!

      Come on, somebody who believes anyone in their right mind will ever go through the hassle to opt-in to be spammed silly is dumb enough to be sold anything at any price. Infinite business opportunities.

      Movers are arriving momentarily to transport the Golden Gate Bridge to its proud new owners.

  5. Potemkine! Silver badge

    Complaints persist, however, because plenty of unregistered telemarketers haven't signed up for the regulator's app. These rapscallions continue to send spam, and to make unwanted phone calls.

    Phone calls aren't that hard to trace and find the source. What about hitting those telemarketers hard?

    == Bring us Dabbsy back! ==

    1. Lil Endian

      I'd like to say, just make telemarketing illegal full stop. I know what I want to buy, and I can find the resource. Unfortunately, there's a jurisdiction issue that's unsurmountable. Well, until China rules the World anyhoo.

      1. ThatOne Silver badge
        Thumb Up

        > just make telemarketing illegal full stop

        And add the right ways to enforce it, because without that it's just empty words. Telling criminals they're doing something illegal isn't very productive, as are the purely symbolic fines on fly-by-night disposable companies. Heavy prison terms for the owners should do the trick.

        1. Lil Endian

          Heavy prison terms

          Agreed. Yet the jurisdiction boundaries are a stopper on that.

          I'd like to see prison applied to C-Suite execs that just screw a company, and their customers. Go to the wall. (Dildo Hardon comes to mind.) One shouldn't really be able to keep going from one golden parachute to another. You screwed up. You're no longer permitted to influence an organisation. Stay out. If you persist, or try to be clever and use a proxy, send them down. Fines are redundant.

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