A Solution for Robocalls
There is a super easy way to absolutely fix the spam caller problem.
Charge 1-cent to terminate a call on the PSTN. Just a 1-cent fee every time you place a call, whether it goes through, is answered, or is an invalid number. 1-cent to try to call a number.
Put that 1-cent into the Universal Service Fund (and reduce the flat-per-line charge system we now have.)

This 1-cent per call attempt would probably eliminate the per-line Universal Service Fee we now all pay. So it would be revenue neutral.
But this penny per call attempt would totally flip the economics of spamming. There would be a cost of $100 for every 10,000 call attempts. From everything I can read, the “expected value” to a spammer from 10,000 call attempts is about $1~$10. Suddenly you can’t make a profit by spamming. End of game.
All of the mechanisms to charge the 1-cent termination fee are now in place already. It’s not a hideously complicated system like SHAKEN/STIR. It could be implemented this year.
This 1-cent fee might never be seen by most consumers. AT&T could still offer unlimited calling. Behind the scenes they would pay the 1-cent fee to terminate calls (just as they now pay other termination fees.) But AT&T would have every incentive to cut off a customer who is originating thousands of calls using their “Fair Use” policy.
Yes, really, the spam problem fixes this simply.
Look ma, no ads!
Admit it! You just can’t look away. Yet, there’s so much more.
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