What if you know who was calling you...would that stop spamming and scamming? The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India began a consultation process earlier this year to enforce real-name identification on mobile networks: your mobile screens would flash the name of the individual calling you, based on the KYC done with telecom operators. Truecaller and some mobile operating systems already provide a functionality where you're able to tell who is calling. Just because you know who is calling won't prevent you from getting disturbed. Just because they know you can tell they're calling won't stop them from spamming you. The rise of spam and scamming is a direct function of return on investment: what do you get for how much you spend. In 2010, after conversations with execs in the telecom industry, I had detailed the business model changes that led to an increase in spam in India. At one point in time, Nigerian scammers were spamming Indians using short codes bought from telecom operators. Spammers ran SIM farms using off-the-shelf SIM cards. STAY ON TOP OF TECH POLICY: Our daily newsletter with top stories from MediaNama and around the world, delivered to your inbox before 9 AM. Click here to sign up today! The TRAI had responded by increasing the cost of text messaging, and secondly by limiting marketing to verified telemarketers, and penalising them for spamming. I once received a call from a telemarketer begging me to withdraw my complaint. I didn't. A limit was also put on…
