The Federal Communications Commission has announced that technology aimed at stopping robocallers will be implemented by telephone companies by the end of the year. The technology, known as STIR/SHAKEN, was featured in a Kane In Your Corner investigation into robocalls earlier this month.

STIR/SHAKEN uses digital fingerprinting to confirm that the phone number that shows up on caller ID matches the number of the phone that made the call. Calls that don’t match could be flagged or rejected.

 

David Weissmann, a spokesman for Verizon, says the technology will prevent spoofing, which has become a favorite tactic of robocallers. “They like to make it seem like it’s a local call. The authentication from STIR-SHAKEN will eliminate that problem.”

Ethan Garr, whose company “RoboKiller” manufactures a popular robocall blocking app, isn’t convinced caller ID verification will make that much of a difference. He notes that robocallers have proven adept at working around government enforcement efforts in the past.

“If you could stop spoofing tomorrow, scammers would find a different way to contact you,” Garr says. “They’ll block their caller ID. They’ll buy a bunch of phone numbers that are legal. There are different ways that they’ll find to get to their intended target.”

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has scheduled a public hearing on the new technology for July, which would put it on course to be implemented as early as this fall.

Kane In Your Corner Robocall Investigation

Part 1: Ringing off the hook: How new tech is fueling the robocall explosion 
Part 2: Beating the system: 60% of robocalls are legal, despite increased legislation 
Part 3: Fighting back: Proposed legislation seeks to punish scam robocallers 
Part 4: Protect yourself: The best ways to stop unwanted robocalls