“This would be a legitimate use of government resources and power, yet no one seems to be able to address this legitimate problem.”
Yes! our wireline phone ( now VOIP) is almost unusable. And unlike our cell phones where you can easily make an incoming unwanted caller one of your “contacts,” then immediately block them, home phones have a much more cumbersome, and limited process for blocking calls. Plus these people appear to be “spoofing” phone numbers and using them to make their calls. A couple of nights ago we received about six calls in short succession with the same message, and each was from a different number that had not caller ID. So now I’ve put a message on our answering machine that tells all callers we’re tired of telemarketers so we’re not answering the phone, so if the caller is a friend, leave a message and we will call them back. The other thing that’s “fun” to do, is to hold your finger over the mouthpiece on your handset and answer the call. If it’s a “machine” calling, it doesn’t know what to do with dead silence. So it stays connected for about 30 seconds then automatically drops. When there is someone live calling, they keep saying hello to no avail until they figure out it’s a lost cause.
Pssst - most VOIP systems can have a similar block list. There’s also the nomorobo program that can set that up.
This is also why people have gone completely to cell phones. VOIP ‘landline’ service isn’t any more reliable.