I think the bigger problem is why is the phone system configured in such a way that anyone can just claim to be calling from a number they don’t own? There should be some sort of authentication protocol built into the system to prove the person calling actually is from that number. Then it would be easier to charge someone for violating the Do Not Call registry. Once I had a call that Google identified as being a small local bakery, but on the other end was someone trying to sell me an extended warranty for my car. I’m sure the scammer’s software just picks random numbers, and it hurts legitimate phone users in the process.

Nah. This is a carrier issue. Let it burn down.

This is going to become an increasingly impactful problem if we keep using phone numbers as identifiers while most phone number users don't keep the same number for decades.

Hahahaha, you're about 20 years behind if you're just now realizing this.

And Android has had phone number blocking database apps for 15 years that I know of.

Everyone has a phone number. Everyone would have to stop using that number as an identifier.

How you gonna do that?

You can unblock numbers if you need to, its not forever?

I have ~100 blocked numbers, statistically, its extremely unlikely that a legit person will attempt to contact me from one of those numbers. And the number of legit contacts from a random phone number (not a contact) is pretty close to zero.

with a 10 digit phone number, that's a 1 in 10,000,000,000 chance someone will get a specific number that you blocked...
it's a little more because not all numbers are valid, and you're blocking more than one number... but i don't think it's going to be a huge problem....

i do think that "blocking culture" (a term that makes no sense) is a problem online, however...

not only is there a completely opaque process for banning you online, and zero opportunity to talk to a human about it... but when individuals block trolls they continue to troll, but with impunity....

Yeah, I've had my number reported as spam before from someone impersonating my number, and I've run into several customers through work whose numbers had been reported as spam as well. I've also gotten calls from people who supposedly missed a call from me, that I had never called before. Most likely they missed a spam call that was impersonating my number.

Thankfully it wasn't too hard to get off of the spam call registries, and you can even preemptively register your number with them as a non-spam number to try to avoid getting caught in this. But it's still frustrating to have to deal with this at all, and it's far too difficult to realize your phone number has been flagged as spam. The people you frequently talk to probably have you added as a contact and will never get a chance to see you've been flagged as spam. And if you call anyone new, they probably won't answer your call because it shows up as spam. End result is you just have trouble getting in touch with people you haven't already swapped contacts with, and never get a good chance to learn why.

Good, I already don't answer the phone anyway.

Oh, a timed block list is a great idea! (Not sarcasm)