It’s one of the most common low-stakes annoyances in modern life: you flop down on the couch at the end of the day, finally with a few minutes to watch one of the dozens of incredible shows or movies you have access to thanks to the peak TV era and the advent of streaming, and you start scrolling. Instead of actually watching anything, you spend an interminable evening opening apps, aimlessly scrolling through endless rows of same-looking tiles. You eventually give up and watch The Office again.

On this episode of The Vergecast, we look at why TV and movie recommendations are so complicated, and whether AI might be able to make them better. If Spotify can build infinite playlists of music you’ll like, and YouTube and TikTok always seem to have the perfect thing ready to go, why can’t Netflix or Hulu or Max seem to get it right?

AI, it turns out, can help at least a little. Because models from OpenAI, Google, and others have ingested so much information about movies and shows — not just their title and genre, but all the synopses, reviews, recaps, and more from all over the web — they can synthesize that information and find connections between titles that were previously hard to find. And as context windows get larger, these models can actually ingest and understand an entire film at once, which opens up entirely new ways of understanding them.

Ultimately, though, recommendations are a human problem. Because we’re all human. What you want to watch, and why you like what you like, are far more complicated — and vary far more widely — than even the best model can understand. As a result, the idea of sitting down, opening Netflix, and having the exact right title appear immediately, isn’t coming true anytime soon. So instead of hoping for the best, we investigate the ways to use AI tools right now to get to your content at least a little faster. Because watching movies great; scrolling through too many of them is seriously overrated.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are a few links to get you started:

If you’ve taken the time to read our tips here at CyberGuy to keep phone scammers at bay, good for you. One of these tips is to put your phone number on the national and state Do Not Call list.

However, you might find that you’re still getting calls from scammers. This is because the Do Not Call list primarily targets legitimate telemarketers and has limited effectiveness against scammers and illegal robocallers who often ignore the list.

This is what happened to one of our newsletter subscribers who told us that even though she took the time to put her number on that list, she still receives many annoying calls. “I repeatedly tell them to remove my number and stop calling, but they continue to call,” she said. 

She noted that caller ID indicates that these phone calls are coming from spoofed phone numbers. Even though she blocked these numbers too (another tip to ward off scammers), they’d call back from another number. So, why is this permitted? And how come being on the Do Not Call list is not enough? Let’s thoroughly answer this once and for all.

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How scam calls get through the Do Not Call list

Receiving calls from scammers when you’ve gone out of your way to prevent them from calling you can be rather frustrating.

Unfortunately, despite being on the Do Not Call list, you may still receive unwanted calls due to a few reasons:

Some types of calls are exempt from the Do Not Call regulations. These include calls from political organizations, charities and companies with whom you have an existing business relationship. Of course, if the scammer spoofs a government phone number, they may appear to be exempt from the Do Not Call list, even though they are not actually a legitimate government entity.

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?

Scammers often disregard the Do Not Call list and continue to make unsolicited calls. These individuals and organizations engage in illegal activities and are not bound by the regulations set forth by the FTC. After all, these scammers are not really likely to follow the rules.

Sometimes, telemarketing companies or organizations may inadvertently call numbers on the Do Not Call list due to data errors or technical issues. Though, this is less likely.

Additionally, scammers can purchase phone numbers on the dark web, allowing them to target a wide range of individuals regardless of their registration on the Do Not Call list.

Again, because scammers can spoof phone numbers to make any number appear on the caller ID (even if it belongs to someone else), it’s much easier for them to bypass the Do Not Call list loophole.

A woman frustrated by a robocall  (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

HOW TO TRACE AND BLOCK ANONYMOUS CALLS 

How to keep scammers from calling you at all costs

While we’d like to think it’s enough to put your number on the national and state Do Not Call list, as we learned from this subscriber, it’s not a foolproof method. They can still find ways to get to you. That being said, don’t neglect putting your number on this list. Keeping scammers from calling you requires a combination of different strategies, and each one helps reduce the number of scam calls you’ll get over time.

1. Invest in personal data removal services: While no service promises to remove all your data from the internet, having a removal service is great if you want to constantly monitor and automate the process of removing your information from hundreds of sites continuously over a longer period of time. Remove your personal data from the internet with my top picks here.

2. Check to see if any websites you have an account with may have had a data breach recently. Changing your passwords frequently can help prevent more damage from being done. Also consider using a password manager to generate and store complex passwords.

3. Don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. Let them go to voicemail.

4. Use your phone’s spam blocker features.

5. Notify your mobile service provider about the calls and see what they can help you do.

6. Never reply or call back a number you don’t recognize. If the area code is familiar to you but not the rest of the phone number, it could very well be a scammer who is intentionally phone spoofing someone’s number within the same area code for the sole purpose that you’ll recognize it and feel more inclined to answer it.

7. Block robocalls and unknown numbers.

8. Report the unwanted calls to the FTC and your state attorney general’s office, especially if it’s a repeated number or person claiming to be from the same organization.

9. If the calls are still coming, consider changing your phone number.

10. Consult a consumer protection attorney if the calls really don’t stop.

11. Remember never to provide your personal information over the phone. If anyone calls you to ask for your sensitive data, do not give it over, even as trusting the person might sound or as legitimate as the reason may seem. These days, because scams are so prevalent, there shouldn’t be any company calling you and asking you for this information over the phone. Always do your due diligence.

A woman frustrated by a robocall  (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

HOW TO BLOCK THOSE UNWANTED AND ANNOYING SPAM EMAILS

Kurt’s key takeaways

Putting your phone number on the Do Not Call list is a great step in keeping scammers away. But it’s not the only way. It takes utilizing different strategies — and keeping up with those strategies — to send the scammers elsewhere.

If you could design a new feature for smartphones to prevent scam calls, what would it be? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact

For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter

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The end of the world just got a little closer. Apple confirmed that the much-anticipated second season of its postapocalyptic series Silo will start streaming on November 15th.

Based on the trilogy of novels by Hugh Howey, Silo is set in the distant future and follows the remains of humanity, who live in giant underground bunkers — the titular silos — to avoid the deadly world outside. The season 1 finale ended with a big twist that made it clear there’s a lot more going on than the show initially lets on. It also only covers part of the first book, so it’ll be interesting to see how much of the story the new season covers. Silo’s second season will see returning cast members like Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Robbins, and Common.