Page 4 November 3, 2016 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 consumerprotections 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 This movie character inspired a robocall-stop bill in Washington. 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 Internetphone 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, “call your phone company.” • Looking Up Going Out in a Blaze of Glory: Cassini’s Grand Finale This view shows Saturn’s northern hemisphere in 2016, as that part of the planet nears its northern hemisphere summer solstice in May 2017. Photo courtesy of Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Havana from front page Travelers must fall into one of 12 approved categories, including family visits, educational activities and public performances or exhibitions. Alaska has enlisted the assistance of Cuba Travel Services, which has served the Cuba destination for nearly two decade. The airline encourages would-be visitors to contact Cuba Travel Services for assistance securing travel visas, hotel lodging, and ground transportation and creating itineraries. A blog at https://blog. alaskaair.com/destinations/how-to-cuba-travel/ explains what Americans need to know about making the trip. Los Angeles, which could have lost the new direct-to-Cuba route, was one of 12 domestic carriers to apply for the newly opening commercial routes. The federal government chose eight airlines, citing the limited number of round-trip flights the Castro government agreed to allow. Domestic carriers making daily departures for the capital city are: Alaska Airlines: from Los Angeles to Havana American Airlines: Miami and Charlotte Delta: New York and Atlanta Frontier: Miami JetBlue: New York, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando Southwest: Fort Lauderdale and Tampa Spirit: Fort Lauderdale United: Newark and Houston. Major U.S. cities left off the department’s list included Chicago, Boston, Denver and Philadelphia. Federal officials defended their selections saying they concentrated on serving cities with the largest number of U.S.-Cuban residents. Chartered air service to any point in Cuba is currently unlimited, and is not affected by the agreement. Though U.S. airlines also have permission to service cities other than the capital city of Havana, none is based on the West Coast. American, Frontier, JetBlue, Silver Airways, Southwest, and Sun Country offer service from from Miami, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis. Cuba is allowing 10 daily flights to its airports in Holguin, Santa Clara, Matanzas, Camaguey, Cienfugegos, Santiago de Cuba and Manzanillo. • By Bob Eklund With the conclusion of the international Cassini mission orbiting Saturn and its moons set for Sept. 15, 2017, the spacecraft is poised to soon begin a thrilling two-part endgame. Cassini will enter the first part of this denouement on Nov. 30, 2016, when the spacecraft begins a series of 20 passes just beyond the outer edge of the main rings. These weekly loops around Saturn are called the F ring orbits, and they send the spacecraft high above and below the planet’s poles. During these orbits, Cassini will approach to within 4,850 miles of the center of the narrow F ring, with its wispy and ever-changing structure. “During the F ring orbits we expect incredible views of the rings, along with the small moons and other structures embedded in them, as we’ve never seen them before,” said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at JPL. “The last time we got this close to the rings was during arrival at Saturn in 2004, and we saw only their backlit side. Now we have dozens of opportunities to examine their structure at extremely high resolution on both sides.” Cassini’s final phase—called the Grand Finale—begins in earnest in April 2017. A close flyby of Saturn’s giant moon Titan will reshape the spacecraft’s orbit so that, instead of passing outside the rings, it passes through the gap between the rings and the planet. The spacecraft is expected to make 22 plunges through this gap—an unexplored space only about 1,500 miles wide—beginning with its first dive on April 27. During the Grand Finale, Cassini will make the closest-ever observations of Saturn, mapping the planet’s magnetic and gravity fields with exquisite precision and returning ultra-close views of the atmosphere. Scientists also hope to gain new insights into Saturn’s interior structure, the precise length of a Saturn day, and the total mass of the rings— which may finally help settle the question of their age. The spacecraft will also directly analyze dust-sized particles in the main rings and sample the outer reaches of Saturn’s atmosphere—both first-time measurements for the mission. The mission will come to a dramatic end on Sept. 15, 2017, after more than 13 years studying Saturn, its rings and its moons—and nearly 20 years since launch. On that day, Cassini will dive into Saturn itself, returning data about the chemical composition of the planet’s upper atmosphere until its signal is lost, after which the spacecraft is expected to burn up like a meteor. “While it will be sad to say goodbye, Cassini’s final act is like getting a whole new mission in its own right,” said Spilker. “The scientific value of the F ring and Grand Finale orbits is so compelling that you could imagine an entire mission to Saturn designed around what we’re about to do.” • Follow Us on Twitter @heraldpub
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