NATION
Saturday, August 12, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 9A
Finally some relief from annoying robocalls?
By TALI ARBEL
AP Technology Writer
NEW YORK — For
Michael Rizzo, answering
the phone is too often a waste
of time.
His Sports City Pizza
Pub in Buffalo, New York,
depends on customers calling
to order wings, pizza and
potato skins. But much of
the time, it’s an automated
message pushing a scam.
“It’s getting to the point
where it’s blocking other
callers from coming in,” the
24-year-old bar owner said.
Help is coming, if
slowly. Over the past year,
prodded by the government,
cellphones have added new
tools to counteract unwanted
“robocalls.” The Federal
Communications Commis-
sion has proposed letting
phone companies block more
spam and is hoping to deter
scammers with big fi nes.
Experts say these steps
are not a cure-all, but they’re
a good start.
Why is this happening?
The federal and state “Do
Not Call” lists are supposed
to protect people from
unwanted calls from telemar-
keters. But scammers don’t
care about breaking the law.
Scammers reach people
cheaply and easily using
“autodialers,” which spew
out a large number of calls
automatically. It’s estimated
that Americans receive tens
of millions of robocalls
every day. Not all of them
are fraudsters, of course.
Pharmacies send automated
messages about prescriptions
being fi lled. But too often,
it’s this: you owe the IRS
money; it’s Microsoft calling
to fi x your computer; free
cruises!
And spam callers have
tricky technology that makes
a phone’s caller ID display
a local or important-looking
caller, like the IRS. Cracking
down on “spoofed” numbers
would make running a scam
more diffi cult and save
U.S. consumers millions
AP Photo/John Raoux
In this Aug. 1 photo, Jen Vargas shows the data of a
recent robocall on her home phone in Orlando, Fla.
of dollars, a group of state
attorneys general said.
What phone
companies are doing
Phone companies and
independent apps can screen
or block unwanted calls
by checking them against
databases of known problem
numbers and analyzing
suspicious behavior, like a
number that’s calling lots of
people on Do Not Call lists.
Wireless carriers also
have tools that fl ag incoming
calls with warnings like
“scam likely,” but they aren’t
available on all phones, or
to many prepaid customers.
The versions from Verizon
and Sprint cost extra.
A few Android phones,
including Google’s Pixel,
screen spam calls for free.
Jen Vargas, 39, a
multimedia producer from
Orlando, Florida, said her
AT&T app fl ags and blocks
some fraudulent calls to her
cellphone, but she’s given up
with the landline.
“Very rarely do I pick up
a call from a number I don’t
know,” Vargas said.
Apps including YouMail
and Nomorobo offer relief
on home phones for free,
with
limitations.
With
YouMail, your carrier must
allow “conditional call
forwarding,” which forwards
calls if a line is unanswered
or busy. Nomorobo isn’t
available through all home
phone providers and won’t
work with older, copper-
based landlines. You can also
buy gadgets, some pretty
clunky, that block calls on
home phones. Verizon is
also testing warnings about
suspicious calls on a home
phone’s caller ID display.
Help from
the government
Phone companies can
already block some calls
that are being faked. The
FCC has proposed rules to
formalize that practice and
permit them to block other
calls they suspect are scams.
That means Verizon can
block a toll-free number that
accepts calls for a bank but
never initiates a call. Carriers
would also be able to block
calls they know aren’t legit-
imate, like a number with a
911 area code. The rules still
need to be fi nalized.
Maureen Mahoney, a
public policy fellow at the
nonprofi t Consumers Union,
said the development is
“promising,” but won’t
protect consumers from all
unwanted calls.
For one thing, “Do Not
Call” lists don’t apply to
certain types of callers, such
as debt collectors and polit-
ical campaigns. In addition,
Mahoney said, the FCC
rules would cover only faked
numbers. Not all robocalls
are spoofed.
Consumers Union wants
phone companies to make
call-blocking tools available
to all consumers for free.
In the longer term, the
FCC supports industry efforts
to verify that callers are
really who they say they are.
Perhaps one day, you’ll see
a green checkmark on your
smartphone when the caller is
legitimate. U.S. Telecom, the
phone-company lobby, says
rolling this out could take a
few years, but would prove
powerful against robocallers.
The FCC is also seeking
ways to stop annoying calls
from dogging consumers
when they change numbers.
Today, if you sign up for Do
Not Call but then get a new
number, a marketer may not
know and could pester you
on your new line.
What can you do?
Robocallers aren’t going
away, said Aaron Foss of
Nomorobo, a call-blocking
service for cellphones and
home phones. “These guys
are criminals and they’re
going to fi nd their way
around any system. But it’s
our job to make sure we
make it as diffi cult for them
as possible.”
There are measures for
consumers to follow.
• Don’t answer the phone
if you don’t recognize the
number. (Yes, this is imprac-
tical on business lines)
• Hang up on unwanted
callers. Don’t talk to them
or press any buttons. If you
engage with them, they might
fl ag you as someone who’s
responsive and inundate
you with more calls. Block
the number after the call, if
possible.
• Use call-blocking apps.
If you have privacy concerns,
check the app’s policy to see
if it’s sharing your call or
contacts data with marketers.
• Don’t give callers
personal information, like
bank account or Social Secu-
rity numbers.
Navy: Only woman in SEAL training pipeline drops out
SAN DIEGO (AP) —
The only woman in the Navy
SEAL training pipeline has
dropped out, a Navy special
warfare offi cial confi rmed
Friday.
The female midshipman
voluntarily decided to not
continue participating in
a summer course that’s
required of offi cers who
want to be selected for SEAL
training, Lt. Cmdr. Mark
Walton, a Naval special
warfare spokesman, told The
Associated Press. The Navy
has not released the woman’s
name, part of a policy against
publicly identifying SEALs
or candidates for the force.
No other woman has
started the long process
required to become a Navy
SEAL, Walton said.
Another woman has set
her sights on becoming a
Special Warfare Combatant
Crewman, another job that
recently opened to women.
They often support the
see its fi rst female SEAL or
Special Warfare Combatant
Crewman.
The entry of women in
one of the military’s most
elite fi ghting forces is part
of ongoing efforts to comply
with then-Defense Secretary
Ash Carter’s directive in
SEALs but also conduct
missions of their own using
state-of-the art, high-perfor-
mance boats. She has started
the various evaluations and
standard Navy training.
Offi cials have said it
would be premature to spec-
ulate when the Navy will
December 2015 to open
all military jobs to women,
including the most dangerous
commando posts.
That decision was formal
recognition of the thousands
of female servicewomen who
fought in the Afghanistan
and Iraq wars in recent years.
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“Our Roots Run Deep
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August 16-20, 2017
FAIR: www.co.morrow.or.us/fair
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Wednesday, Aug. 16
Reptile Man & Kid Zone
Scarecrow Contest
The Junebugs
Thursday, Aug. 18 th
Reptile Man & Kid Zone
Old Time Fiddlers
Talent Show
4-H/FFA Conformation
Murray's Wine Tasting
Featuring:
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Nate Bosford
4-H Food Contest
4-H/FFA Small Animal
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Ice Cream Social
4-H Archery Shoot
RDO Tractor Pull
Cory Peterson Band
Friday, Aug. 18 th
Reptile Man & Kid Zone
4-H/FFA Showmanship
Ballet Performance 4-7 yrs.
Master Showmanship
Adult Showmanship Greased Pig
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OTPR/NPRA Rodeo
Music by: Dan Burns 3D Productions
Saturday, Aug. 19th
Reptile Man & Kid Zone Parade FFA
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Buyers Luncheon
Livestock Auction OTPR/NPRA Rodeo
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Sunday, Aug. 20th
All Exhibits Released
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Dan Gleiter /PennLive.com via AP
This Aug. 7 photo shows headstones at Carlisle
Barracks Cemetery in Carlisle, Pa.
Exhumed remains
don’t match 19th
century Indian child
CARLISLE, Pa. (AP)
— Remains unearthed at
a Pennsylvania Army base
don’t match the Native
American child thought
to have been buried there
after dying at the govern-
ment-run Carlisle Indian
Industrial School in the
19th century, authorities
said Friday.
The U.S. Army said
Friday the grave thought to
contain 10-year-old Little
Plume, also called Hayes
Vanderbilt Friday, doesn’t
match his age, and in fact
contains two sets of uniden-
tifi ed remains.
The
remains
of
15-year-old Little Chief,
also known as Dickens
Nor,
and
14-year-old
Horse, also called Horace
Washington, do match
and will be returned to a
Northern Arapaho delega-
tion on Monday. They’ll
be reburied in Wyoming’s
Wind River Reservation.
The grave with Little
Plume’s headstone contains
remains from a teenage
male and another person of
undetermined age or sex.
They will be reinterred at
the site.
The
government-run
Carlisle Indian Industrial
School, founded by an
Army offi cer, took drastic
steps to separate Native
American students from
their culture, including
cutting their braids, dressing
them in military-style
uniforms and punishing
them for speaking their
native languages. They
were forced to adopt Euro-
pean names.
More than 10,000 Native
American children were
taught there and endured
harsh conditions that some-
times led to death from such
diseases as tuberculosis.
The exhumations began
early Tuesday at the post
cemetery on the grounds
of the Carlisle Barracks,
which today houses the
U.S. Army War College.
Seventeen
members
of the Northern Arapaho
tribe, including tribal elders
and young people, came to
Carlisle to take part in the
process. In 2016, the tribe
had formally requested the
bodies be returned to them.
“The U.S. Army honored
its promise to reunite
Native American families
with their children who
died more than 100 years
ago at the Carlisle Indian
Industrial School,” Army
National Military Ceme-
teries Executive Director
Karen Durham-Aguilera
said in a statement. “We
are thankful to the Northern
Arapaho families for their
patience and collaboration
during this process.”
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