I don’t see why this would be illegal, since you still retain the identity of the subscriber.
I don’t see why this would be illegal, since you still retain the identity of the subscriber.
Controlling a VOIP system, in which callers are challenged in different ways, is one approach. One potential challenge would be to issue random, non-sequential, and sparsely populated "extension" numbers, of say 10--20 digits (10 billion -- 100 quintillion values).
You'd offer a distinct value to each individual contact. Those contacts would be permitted to contact only that "extension". This creates a 1:1 pairing of caller to permitted contact number.
Coordinating generation and acceptance is probably the most challenging piece of this. Callers who might attempt contacts from multiple number is another.
(Which itself suggests assigning an extention to a set or range of numbers, e.g., a healthcare network, school or university system, or large business / organisation with which you engage frequently.)
Friends-and-family would have an easier challenge (whitelisted numbers, some in- or out-of-band validation, or simply being requested to enter the last four digits of their own number (robocall spoofs would probably fail that for at least some time.
Effectively, your single public "published" number serves as a gateway to your own telephony network, into which you can establish both valid numbers, restrictions on same, and challenges, as you see fit.
Throwaway phone numbers are not a viable low cost or no cost alternative in most normal user signup scenarios, and they're implemented as a privacy invasive form of spam prevention for that exact reason.
JohnFen•5mo ago
piratesAndSons•5mo ago
JohnFen•5mo ago
Or, what I do, is just keep it loaded with a minimal amount of minutes and use the same number for all such registration purposes.
I started doing this when I needed a whatsapp account, but didn't want to give facebook my phone number. I just keep that phone number alive, but never use it for anything else, and never even turn the phone on.
madamelic•5mo ago
I used to run a service that was using Twilio to do exactly what OP is asking. These sites often flag and block all phone numbers that are virtual or prepaid.
JohnFen•5mo ago