Lawndale Tribune AND LAWNDALE NEWS The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - October 27, 2016 A Superhero Visits Green Elementary Superhero “Zero the Hero” helps kids learn to use the number zero in math. Learning the importance of zero is fundamental to understanding advanced mathematical concepts and Zero the Hero makes it fun and engaging for students to learn about math. Zero the Hero made a surprise visit to Kinder - second grade classrooms at Green Elementary and she gave each class a mathematical challenge created to enhance the teachers’ STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) curriculum. Principal Jenny Padilla aims for Green Elementary students to be excited to learn about math and with the help of a superhero she will attain this goal. Photo provided by the Lawndale Elementary School District Why the Do-Not-Call List Needs a Superhero By Rob McCarthy What happened to the National Do Not Call list that was supposed to stop unwanted telemarketing calls? The national registry of households that don’t want to be bothered with unsolicited sales pitches worked for several years after the block took effect in 2003. The telemarketers backed off for awhile, however, more than a decade later the robocalls are back. Companies behind them are using phone technology that makes a caller look legitimate, and so more of us are picking up. What people in Washington, D.C., would really like is for the phone service providers to function as Robocops. “Robocalls have become epidemic but the phone companies have been slow to provide their frustrated customers with relief,” said Tim Marvin, who heads up the End Robocalls campaign for Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy division of Consumer Reports. Blocking phone numbers or the location of the caller is called spoofing, and it’s no laughing matter to the keepers of the Do Not Call Registry. They say that technology that blocked unwanted callers after the registry was created has been re-engineered for bad purposes. The head of the Federal Communications Commission has enlisted the nation’s telephone providers to build more consumer-protections into phone services. The Robocall Strike Force met once over the summer, and is brainstorming to create counter technology and other fixes to spoofing. There are obstacles, however, because of changes in how phone service is provided. Consumers are opting for phone service via Internet, called VOIP, because of higherquality sound and robocall blocking services. Scammers have discovered technology to defeat the blocks when they send a call into the phone network. Authorities say the cloaking technology hides the callers’ real identity and their location, appearing to be a relative or a government office. One California congresswoman is determined to slap the telemarketing blitz with a federal ban that takes its name from a futuristic movie franchise. The Repeated Objectionable Bothering of Consumers on Phones (ROBOCOP) Act would require telecom companies to offer consumers free optional robocall-blocking technology, according to its sponsor. “ROBOCOP will put an end to the scourge of robocalls so families can enjoy dinner in peace, people can watch their favorite show without constant interruption, and you won’t ever be left wondering if you actually won a Caribbean cruise,” said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Francisco. She introduced ROBOCOP four months before the FCC Robocop Task Force sat down for the first time. A spokeswoman for the FCC reported after the meeting that “stopping unwanted calls is a simple idea but complex to accomplish,” thus tempering expectations for a permanent fix anytime soon. The task force and FCC have narrowed down what realistically should be done. Calls that impersonate a U.S. government office should be stopped, said spokeswoman Alison Kutler in a report last month on the FCC web site. A low-tech solution offered is that phone providers block the frequently spoofed phone numbers coming into their networks. Their databases would include numbers that robocallers use to impersonate government, healthcare agencies and banks. Political campaigns and charities are exempt from the Do Not Call list, so even the proposed fixes wouldn’t stop them from calling and asking for donations. The phone providers, especially the voiceover Internet users, could authenticate caller ID if they chose to, Kutler said . It’s the phone providers who are partly to blame for robocallers getting through their networks to customers, she suggested. If the Internet-phone services all included “robust” robocall blocking and filtering, all subscribers in the network could block unwanted callers and send them to voicemail. The FCC says it’s working with providers to do just that. The agency also collects data on which phone numbers generate the most complaints from consumers. More than 3 million complaints about robocalls were filed last year, according to the consumer federation. The data has helped robocall blocking companies improve their systems, according to the FCC. Its power to stop incoming calls from outside the country is very limited, according to the FCC’s spokeswoman. So is the government’s ability to deter overseas operators who defy the Do Not Call law. Less than 10 percent of the fines were paid, says the Consumer Federation of America which is supporting the ROBOCOP Act in Congress. The ROBOCOP Act, among other things, would direct federal regulators to require telecom companies to offer free robocallblocking technology to consumers, according to Speier’s office. While the bill works its way through Congress, phone customers are being urged to voice their displeasure through lower-level channels. The phone providers need the pressure turned up on them, says a leading advocate for strengthening the call registry that worked well until 2011. “If you want to be mad at someone,” says Tim Marvin, the campaign manager for the Consumers Union’s End Robocalls campaign, iDBMM ZPVS QIPOF DPNQBOZu r Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals ......................2 Classifieds ...........................3 Entertainment .....................4 Hawthorne Happenings ...3 Legals ...............................6-7 Pets .......................................8 Police Reports ....................2 Sports ...................................5 Seniors .................................5 Weekend Forecast Friday Partly Cloudy 67°/59° Saturday Partly Cloudy 66°/59° Sunday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 65°/56°
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