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?

with a 10 digit phone number, that’s a 1 in 10,000,000,000 chance someone will get a specific number that you blocked…
it’s a little more because not all numbers are valid, and you’re blocking more than one number… but i don’t think it’s going to be a huge problem…

i do think that “blocking culture” (a term that makes no sense) is a problem online, however…

not only is there a completely opaque process for banning you online, and zero opportunity to talk to a human about it… but when individuals block trolls they continue to troll, but with impunity…

You can unblock numbers if you need to, its not forever?

I have ~100 blocked numbers, statistically, its extremely unlikely that a legit person will attempt to contact me from one of those numbers. And the number of legit contacts from a random phone number (not a contact) is pretty close to zero.

Nah. This is a carrier issue. Let it burn down.

Good, I already don’t answer the phone anyway.

You’ve basically described Nomorobo

www.nomorobo.com

If enough people report a number as spam, it gets added to a list that’s synced to your phone.

I don’t believe the blocks are permanent as you can mark a spammed number as legitimate.

Oh, a timed block list is a great idea! (Not sarcasm)

Yeah, I’ve had my number reported as spam before from someone impersonating my number, and I’ve run into several customers through work whose numbers had been reported as spam as well. I’ve also gotten calls from people who supposedly missed a call from me, that I had never called before. Most likely they missed a spam call that was impersonating my number.

Thankfully it wasn’t too hard to get off of the spam call registries, and you can even preemptively register your number with them as a non-spam number to try to avoid getting caught in this. But it’s still frustrating to have to deal with this at all, and it’s far too difficult to realize your phone number has been flagged as spam. The people you frequently talk to probably have you added as a contact and will never get a chance to see you’ve been flagged as spam. And if you call anyone new, they probably won’t answer your call because it shows up as spam. End result is you just have trouble getting in touch with people you haven’t already swapped contacts with, and never get a good chance to learn why.

Absolutely, the points you’re raising are spot on! It’s frustrating how current blocking methods can be a bit of a double edged sword. We’re preventing spam, sure, but at the cost of potentially blocking innocent future users of those recycled numbers. Your idea for smart blocks is a game-changer imagine the peace of mind knowing that our defenses adapt as numbers change hands! It’s definitely time for a tech upgrade to ensure that our efforts to dodge unwanted calls don’t accidentally push away legitimate contacts. Speaking of keeping up with the times, ensuring you can pay online securely is just as crucial as managing who can reach you!