Want to know who's to blame for all those annoying robocalls during dinner? Nathan Kingsbury, that's who.
He was the AT&T vice president who signed his name to a 1913 letter pledging that the company would open its network to other phone services. The so-called Kingsbury Commitment settled an antitrust case brought by the federal government and paved the way for the modern phone system.
"Because of Kingsbury, we were able to have more than one phone company," said Eric Burger, a computer science professor and director of Georgetown University's Center for Secure Communications.
"That's a good thing," he said. "But also because of him, AT&T and Verizon are required by law to deliver any call that reaches their networks."
That's one reason robocalls keep getting through. Another is that, thanks to technology that can trick caller ID systems, telemarketers and scammers keep finding sneaky ways to get past your defenses.
The head of the Federal Communications Commission last week proposed new rules intended to cut down on the number of robocalls bothering people.
A key change is to clear up any confusion over whether phone companies are allowed to block robocalls, just as Internet service providers try to block spam e-mail.
"We are giving the green light for robocall-blocking technology," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said. "The FCC wants to make it clear: Telephone companies can — and in fact should — offer consumers robocall-blocking tools."