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Cellphones Government United States

FCC Proposals Require Phone Companies To Help Domestic Violence Survivors (engadget.com) 43

Posted by BeauHD from the additional-safety-measures dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: Now that the Safe Connections Act (SCA) has become law, the Federal Communications Commission is taking steps to help domestic violence survivors leave their partners' phone plans. The agency has proposed rules that would require carriers separate the line for a survivor within two business days of a request. Another proposal would also have carriers hide contact with abuse hotlines from consumer-facing call and text logs.

The FCC also hopes to use the Lifeline or Affordable Connectivity Program to support survivors enduring financial hardships for up to six months. Separately, providers are teaming with the National Domestic Violence Hotline to ensure survivors leaving a family plan will get in touch with someone who can offer support from experts on abuse. The proposals are entering a public comment phase and may be modified when they take effect as required by the SCA.
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FCC Proposals Require Phone Companies To Help Domestic Violence Survivors More

FCC Proposals Require Phone Companies To Help Domestic Violence Survivors

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  • They need to fix Caller ID to prevent easy spoofing, They need ways to both protect individuals privacy, as well a good mechanism to track down abusers and other criminal acts with a warrant.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Zak3056 ( 69287 )

      They need to fix Caller ID to prevent easy spoofing,

      Caller ID has long since been fixed to prevent easy spoofing. I have around 500 DIDs and I can set any of my outgoing calls to use any one of them. If I use a number that's not assigned to me, that action is blocked. The catch is that this is at the provider level, and if you provider doesn't give a rats ass (or is actively aiding and abetting your activities) then you can do whatever you want. The obvious solution is to treat this spam as we do email spam, and when a provider gets a bad reputation you

      • So it sounds like spoofing of Caller ID can only be checked in outgoing calls. Meanwhile, TCP uses a three-way handshake to ensure that no one is lying about their address. Is there any feature of telephony that is capable of verifying the validity of all numbers involved in a phone call, similar to TCP? If not, is there anything in telephony that would make such verification impossible?

  • Good idea (Score:4)

    by gosso920 ( 6330142 ) on Friday February 17, 2023 @09:44AM (#63301041)
    They should name it "Depp's Law" after domestic violence survivor Johnny Depp.

    • They should name it "Depp's Law" after domestic violence survivor Johnny Depp.

      There would be plenty of reeeing over that! I like it.

    • They should name it "Depp's Law" after domestic violence survivor Johnny Depp.

      And have Amber Heard scream and cry and cast ugly faces during all the commercials for that law?

      No thanks. She is a bad enough actress as it is without needlessly encouraging her.

  • Honest question here...the article starts out talking about how FCC is needing special program and rules for domestic abuse victims to "leave" a family plan, etc.

    Just exactly how hard is it now, to walk into a store and either buy a new phone with new account...OR, if you want to keep existing phone, to just have them put a new SIM card or eSIM into it and have you on a new account/phone number, etc.

    Is this currently so difficult that we need new laws and programs to cover this?

    Again, I'm honestly curiou

    • It can be really hard, if your abuser controls the family money and resources. Try leaving with no money, no credit, and no job. Getting a job, without a current job history can be really hard. Also, the police will generally not help you. They hate domestic crimes, which can be dangerous for them and usually lead to nothing. I knew a woman years ago who was divorcing an abusive husband. As they were leaving the divorce hearing, he pushed her down the stairs in front of several offices. They refused

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Matt_H ( 34421 )

        I think you are both right in a way. If the DV victim is not financially tied to the abuser, then it should be a no brainer, get a new SIM card at the closest point of sale, prepaid if need be, and voilà. But on the other hand, it's not hard to understand how and why this financial tie oftentimes comes along with the abuse situation.

        That being said, I'm a bit intrigued as to why it is necessary to rule by legislation on that topic, what about a voluntary from the industry? It seems a win-win situation,

        • It may not cost much to the industry, but it also isn't very profitable in comparison to many other things either. US mobile carriers generally don't have a good public image but everyone uses them anyways since there's only a few major ones and a smaller amount of MVNOs that run on the major carrier networks. But back to why they don't do it voluntarily: It's not profitable enough for them to consider making the changes necessary to it, and PR isn't a major concern either, so it won't be done unless it bec

      • That makes no sense. Shoving someone down the stairs is illegal, regardless of if it is an abusive relationship, or a divorce is in progress in any stage.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by HiThere ( 15173 )

          Laws are only enforced when it's convenient to do so. (Convenient to who? Well, that's the catch, of course.)
          Note that this is theoretically illegal. It's called, IIRC, "random enforcement" though that's usually a strong misnomer. But proving a pattern of enforcement is quite difficult, and is almost never even attempted.

      • Who gets control of the existing number for 2FA?

        Spouse packs up, walks out and redirects all their joint accounts to a new identity.

    • and if you are paying for your phone in installments on the bill?
      Phones that are network locked?

    • Honest question here...the article starts out talking about how FCC is needing special program and rules for domestic abuse victims to "leave" a family plan, etc.

      Just exactly how hard is it now, to walk into a store and either buy a new phone with new account...OR, if you want to keep existing phone, to just have them put a new SIM card or eSIM into it and have you on a new account/phone number, etc.

      If I were to hazard a guess, a lot of people just don't think of such things. I would imagine just doing up a new contract with whatever modifications needed.

      Is this currently so difficult that we need new laws and programs to cover this?

      I wouldn't be too surprised if the companies made it difficult. Couples split up all the time, and it shouldn't be too difficult to split the contract. And if there is a PFA, there's no good reason to be on the same contract ever. And people shouldn't take this the wrong way, but there could be some virtue signaling going on here as well.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by HiThere ( 15173 )

        WRT "virtue signaling", that's definitely going on. But the question of to what extent that's the main thing will be decided by how they enforce their rule.

        There's nothing at all wrong with virtue signaling. The problem is the number of false virtue signals. Honest virtue signaling is just telling people who you are and how you'll react. But this always should raise the question of "should he be believed?".

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by whitroth ( 9367 )

          Ok, WTF are you talking about "virtue signaling"? This is someone who suddenly has no credit rating or address than the abuser, and it's THE PHONE COMPANIES who refuse, because, credit rating, etc.

          Or are you personally an abuser?

          • Ok, WTF are you talking about "virtue signaling"? This is someone who suddenly has no credit rating or address than the abuser, and it's THE PHONE COMPANIES who refuse, because, credit rating, etc.

            Or are you personally an abuser?

            Triggered much? Asking if I am an abuser? Krikeys! Bad move.

            Your anger with accusing me of abusing my SO is kind of outrageous So in normal non-insane conversations, we don't go there. But you sure did, homey.

            If you are capable of having an intelligent conversation without accusing others of vile things, we can do a reset.

            Yes, there is such a thing as virtue signaling. It is something employed by both left and right wing. There are often different actions involved in the VS, but it's all the same. Somet

    • Re:How hard is it currently? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Geoffrey.landis ( 926948 ) on Friday February 17, 2023 @10:56AM (#63301183) Homepage

      Just exactly how hard is it now, to walk into a store and either buy a new phone with new account...OR, if you want to keep existing phone, to just have them put a new SIM card or eSIM into it and have you on a new account/phone number, etc.

      That's the trick-- the new number.

      If you're leaving an abusive situation, I expect you need to keep your number, because your support system of everybody but your abuser will still need to get in contact with you.

      I know I'd be multiplying my problems if suddenly nobody could get in contact with me.

    • From listening to Beau Of the Fifth Column (Score:4, Insightful)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday February 17, 2023 @11:09AM (#63301227)
      who does a lot of work for DV it is *very* hard. Abusers uses a wide range of tactics and techniques.

      As for this particular scenario, the women most likely has nothing in her name and none of the passwords. She won't be able to pass a credit check to get a new phone. Yes, abuses go that far. By letting them split the line they can just start making payments, and they've probably got a little money from one of the DV shelters to cover them.

      You probably don't want to know all the horrible **** abuses do to keep the abuse going. Just the little bit I've gleamed from Beau Of the fifth column over on YouTube is enough to give me chills.
    • If it's a family plan some carriers will notify the owner of the plan and also make them wait for a period up to the end of the contract. That's a lot of time for the abuser to realize what's happening and put a stop to it. It's kind of weird, though, because as you point out really this is about money. So it seems like this policy requires carriers to silently split a number off of a plan without notifying the owner of the plan.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by HiThere ( 15173 )

        For the carrier it may be about money. For the other participants it's about power, and it may be about survival.

        It would be interesting to see whether, and how, this rule is actually enforced, implemented, etc., but I don't expect to notice any follow-up.

    • Again, I'm honestly curious about this...how hard is it to get away from someone if you actually really want to?

      I didn't RTFA, but I can say from experience that when my ex wanted off my phone plan, I had to give permission to the carrier to release her number. Which I did, of course (was tired of paying for her Iphone anyways). And it was her number before we joined plans.

      But I could have said no, or transferred her number to my phone.

  • Good to be you (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Ok, there are way too many "how hard can it be to get a phone" comments out there from people who obviously have never been exposed to a domestic violence situation. DV is first and foremost about control. I will beat you up or verbally berate you because I didn't like something you said, did or didn't do. I will abuse you because something bad happened to me today by someone who has control over me so I will now take it out on you because I feel I control you. Not a good place to be when you are on the
  • How do you prevent scammers from saying they are a victim of DV and want this phone number given to them. They already try to swap the phone line to a new sim by calling the phone companies and making up stuff. It would seem that this process would be easier now. I am all for making this easier for the victims but I don't want to make new identity theft easier either.

    • That was my thoughts as well. Clearly the abused spouse, according to all the post on here, has no phone, money, car, credit, a job, friends, family and is likely locked in a closet and gagged. Clearly the most helpless person on the earth honestly.

      I'm sure we could find someone in that situation but it's not the norm, even for DV victims.

      Getting a cheap phone and a new number isn't hard if you have a friend or family or a job or some money but i imagine the real threat is that of violence against the victi

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