The FCC is ramping up its continued war against spammers and telemarketers. Today the commission announced that going forward, it will release data on robocall and telemarketing complaints every week. That'll include the numbers where these annoying and unwanted calls originate from, and the FCC hopes cellular providers and developers will build stronger "do not disturb" tools that take advantage of the data, which it's publishing in spreadsheet form.



A sample of the FCC's new data on robocallers

Right now, support for this kind of thing is pretty scattered and inconsistent. iOS lets you block phone numbers, and the same thing can be accomplished with third-party dialers and apps on Android, but there's no automated tool for filtering out spam callers. The onus is still very much on consumers to insist on being placed on do not call lists. The FCC clearly wants that to change, and it's also pushing for providers to extend similar options to landline customers. "Companies may use data like this to further improve their services in determining what calls and texts a consumer might choose to block or filter (i.e. sent directly to voicemail)," said the FCC in a press release. The FTC similarly releases data regarding known telemarketers and robocallers and levies heavy fines upon companies that ignore do not call lists.