Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

The spam messages come from different numbers every time. STOP, if it works at all, will only stop the messages from that number. Useless.

First off, add yourself to the FCC's do not call list: https://www.donotcall.gov/

Once you've done that, they have 31 days to comply. There's plenty of legal entities that still will call you. If you answer, be polite, play the dope a bit to get the necessary unfortunately, ask how they got the number, then request a manager (yes, they have one, they will tell you they don't. Be polite but insist). When you get the manager politely ask for the company details, then tell them to immediately remove you from their list. Their business can be shut down for violations so once they know you know, they take you seriously (FCC takes reports more seriously when more detailed). They'll probably hang up on you, this is okay. Report them anyways (do this legal or not. They can get their voip removed and whatever shell they're using. It's still annoying for them and they might remove you because you're not worth it)

Second, don't answer phone calls. It is a practice to call, listen for a voice, then log that number as active.

Text messages are more difficult. It depends on the service but you can probably text stop. The difficulty of blocking is that legit services will use the same number to text you verification codes (can we fucking kill sms 2FA‽)

You can also sign up for a relay service (I use Firefox, but use whatever). I do this for email and every website has a unique email. Things like + for Gmail don't work and are filtered. You can also do this for phone numbers but it's more expensive.

Fourth, aggressively unsubscribe, report to FCC, change settings on devices, and so on. Do this for your non-tech savvy friends and family. Get them to use services like signal that are privacy preserving, don't leak metadata, AND is easy enough Grandma can use. Install ublock origin into their browsers and some other privacy preserving stuff and edit settings. Get them to use Firefox instead of Chrome if you can.

You need to do this to others because they will leak your information (most of my information leak comes from my parents. I even get emails in their names...)

If you want to take a step further, get a scrubbing service like optery. There's a lot of shady shit so be careful who you pick.

Edit: you can do a similar thing for mail. There is a $5 processing fee. Sucks, but sadly it's junk mail that keeps the post office alive (do not put "return to sender" unless it's prepaid. You need to give a reason otherwise your postal worker is just being nice and throwing it away for you. Don't create more work for them)

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-stop-junk-mail

Only from a legitimate source. Like if I signed up for alerts for something and don't want them anymore.

Just disable texts and use whatsapp instead no? I reenable it if I sign up for a restaurants waitlist.

No, never interact with spammers/scammers, you'll just be feeding them with more info about you

wish there was DROP | JUNK | SPAM | REPORT option where provider &/or FCC could direct investigate spam peeps

plus mains & MVNOs checked DO NOT CALL / DO NOT TEXT registry before letting known spam accounts through etc

I always report junk but it does not seem to stop them.. Should be a better way

Yes. I reply STOP and UNSUBSCRIBE to bad recruiters on LinkedIn too.

MY bank has a dedicated 2FA device, it can fit on my keychain

If you are in the US, reply STOP. Carriers will enforce that. If you are outside the US and don't live in a place where carriers are legally obligated to enforce that keyword don't send anything. It will let them know they found a human.

Wow. Crazy. I never get spam SMS in Germany. I’ve had my number for 20+ years. If I did, I would report it to the federal agency in charge of number assignment. I hear they are quite effective in following up with reports.

Yes, STOP will stop further messages from that campaign.

Never use SMS for anything other than the automatic notifications, so I really don't care in the first place.

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I’m not Left Wing. I’m certainly not right wing. However the latest trend for the Kamala campaign has in my case decided to follow the technical details of stop but not the intended scenario. I got a text message from the campaign fundraiser and clicked stop. Next day same time. Same first 6 digits different last 4. I hate politics. I’m not going to vote based off of a text.

I think it's time to stop this Ask HN thing here.