Take a look at our (Australian) anti-spam rules and how they were exploited by Clive Palmer, Craig Kelly and the United Australia Party to spam a huge percentage of Australian mobile numbers, for months[1].
Because the messages were from a political party, they were exempt from anti-spam rules, and despite the protests from people sick of getting the messages - there was no requirement for any ability to unsubscribe.
In this vein, my phone helpfully lists a lot of spam calls as "Scam Likely" but I've yet to figure out how to make it just send those calls straight to voicemail instead of letting them ring through since I don't want to talk to scammers at all.
Same, I also wish there was a way to just block all calls from numbers not in my address book. Would also be great to not let "scam likely" numbers leave voicemails because they always do.
> Same, I also wish there was a way to just block all calls from numbers not in my address book.
Depending on your phone/dialling app, you can already do this.
For me on a Pixel 3a, using the default Google Dialler I go to the Dialler app (where you dial numbers from), tap the three dots, settings, Blocked Numbers and there's a toggle "Unknown - block calls from unidentified callers".
iPhone has something similar, and I think Samsung's dialler also does too.
From the Parent Commenter:
> my phone helpfully lists a lot of spam calls as "Scam Likely" but I've yet to figure out how to make it just send those calls straight to voicemail
Similar to my other reply, you may be able to do this with the right phone/dialling app.
Again, for the Pixel 3a with the default Google Dialler: tap the three dots, settings, Caller ID and Spam, and there are three toggles.
See Calller and Spam ID. This shows if a caller is suspected as spam.
Filter spam calls. This rejects calls from suspected spammers (your carrier's normal rejected call handling then applies - i.e if you normally reject a call and it goes to Voicemail, then this is what will happen)
Verified calls. This allows companies which participate in the Verified Caller program to send the business information/reason for calling to your phone when they ring.
Because the messages were from a political party, they were exempt from anti-spam rules, and despite the protests from people sick of getting the messages - there was no requirement for any ability to unsubscribe.
[1] https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/craig-kelly-uap...