The Federal Trade Commission is offering a prize of $50,000 to anyone that can block automated marketing calls. The bounty on robocalls will be paid to the individual or small business that creates the best method to stop the robocalls, with no limits to what device or platform can be used in the solution.
It is claimed by the FTC that the vast majority of telephone calls that deliver a sales-related pre-recorded message are illegal. As technology advances, the number of these illegal calls have increased, and therefore becoming more of a problem. Creating a way to stop these calls is a tricky problem, as a number of similar calls that share the same general characteristics are in fact completely legal, for example, automated calls from political parties, charities, healthcare providers, and reverse 911 calls.
The FTC Robocall Challenge will run from October 25 to January 17, and following a judging period, the winner will be revealed at the beginning of April.
