A new technology called "RoboKiller" has won a $25,000 grand prize from the Federal Trade Commission in the agency's "Robocalls: Humanity Strikes Back" contest aimed at promoting technologies to block and defeat the scourge of automated telemarketing systems. While it's still in testing, the Robokiller application could give both mobile and landline phone customers a shield against unwanted robocalls, as well as a way to sort through them like e-mails in a spam folder.
For the past few years, the FTC has held competitions to promote development of technology that can detect and block robocalls—the increasingly sophisticated computerized phone calls that all too frequently are used by scammers to fish for gullible consumers. Ignoring the FTC's "Do Not Call" list, these systems use a number of methods to avoid detection, including using voice-over-IP lines with numbers local to targeted numbers and interactive voice response systems scripted to act like human operators.
Ars met with Ethan Garr, the cofounder of RoboKiller, at DEF CON earlier this month, where RoboKiller took part in the final round of the FTC's competition for 2015. Garr explained in a nutshell how RoboKiller works:
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