Turning the Tables: Forcing Illegal Robocallers to Detect the Presence of a Human

This proposal describes a method for disincentivizing the use of and reducing the number of illegal robocalls. Rather than block such calls, which may actually benefit illegal robocallers and result in more illegal robocalls, callees instead forward their calls to a proxy that stands in for them. This proposal shows how this technique, which I refer to as call-proxying, (1) can significantly reduce the rate of and revenue earned by illegal robocalls, (2) is easy to deploy and use, (3) has little impact on legitimate callers, (4) provides incentives for telecom providers to deploy, and (5) benefits everyone, not just those who use it.