Idea: Human screenning

[Ole Tange]

Phone spam is when a computer dials your number and when you take the
call a recorded message is played. Phone spam is not that widespread
yet, but will probably be when flat rate phones (such as VoIP to VoIP
calls) become more widespread.

To fight phone spam a human screening facility could be included: The
phone owner will record a riddle that the caller will have to solve
before being let through. If the caller cannot solve the riddle the
call will be diverted to voice mail or dropped entirely.

The riddle may be simple as: "What is 2 + 4?" And when the caller
presses '6' he is through the screening.

It is important the the phone owner records his own riddle, as that
will make it impossible for computers to get through.

Other examples of riddles: "Enter 134 backwards." "Spell pat using the
phone." "Press star."

For a more advanced setup the owner can have multiple riddles that
will be played at random.

Callers on the white list will not be required to solve a riddle.

/Ole
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http://www.linuxtogo.org/gowiki/OpenMoko/ideas/HumanScreening