As a frequent recipient of unsolicited calls from businesses using auto-dialing software, I am frustrated with the inability to trace who is calling and the lack of accountability. Every day, countless people in the UK face the annoyance of scam calls. These calls often come from disguised numbers, leaving no message and providing no means to trace back the caller or report them effectively to Ofcom. This issue is not just a nuisance but a persistent invasion of privacy, often leading to the exploitation of unsuspecting individuals.

To address this, I am calling on the government to mandate that all phone line network providers in the UK make it a legal requirement to provide a lookup service for registered numbers. Personal users should be exempt from this lookup, focusing instead on business numbers. Business numbers should be registered with a legitimate business registration number, akin to the SSL certificate registration for .co.uk domains, requiring physical confirmation before being activated.

In the event a number is not properly registered, network providers should be required to issue compensation at a fixed rate to the recipients of these fraudulent calls. This would incentivize phone line providers to ensure that their clients adhere to strict registration protocols and hold them accountable for any circumvention or resale of numbers through third-party resellers.

Implementing these changes would help drastically reduce the number of unsolicited scam calls, provide a clear path for reporting offenders, and encourage network providers to oversee the compliance of their clients rigorously.

Please sign this petition to urge our leaders to take immediate action against scam calls, safeguard our privacy, and hold network providers accountable for their role in reducing unwanted and intrusive communications.